Federal Minister of National Food Security inaugurated the 7th Pakistan Edible Oils Conference in Karachi
Karachi: Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research Mr. Rana Tanveer Hussain inaugurated the 7th Pakistan Edible Oils Conference. He was accompanied by Malaysian Minister for Plantation & Commodities YB Dato Seri Johari Bin and Malaysian High Commissioner H.E Dato Muhammad Azhar Mazlan.
While addressing the conference Rana Tanveer Hussain said that Pakistan is indeed a very important market for edible oils and oil seeds. Unfortunately, our indigenous production is very low and our dependency on the import of edible oil is around 90% of our requirements. We import around 3 million tons of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia. Indonesia due to its huge production occupied major share in Pakistan market that is around 85%-90%. Our government is making all efforts to increase local production.
The Minister informed the audience about the progress in increasing the production of local Rapeseed and Sunflower seed. He stated that we are giving maximum incentives to increase our local production and in this regard, I invite our brothers from Malaysia and Indonesia to come forward in the field of Agri Production in Pakistan.
Rana Tanveer Hussain commended the efforts of Pakistan Edible Oil Conference (PEOC) in providing a platform to all the stakeholders to come under one-roof not only to interact but also to explore the possibilities of enhancing the trade between brotherly countries of Pakistan.
He maintained that apart from edible oils, Pakistan is a huge market to crush oil seeds which not only produce edible oil for the local industry but also meal for our poultry industry. Our crushing industry has enhanced the value addition and we hope that with the existing crushing capacity, we can explore the possibilities of exporting soya-meal and canola-meal all over the world.
The minister underscored the opportunities for Malaysia and Indonesia in particular and many countries in general to invest in Pakistan’s infrastructure projects which will not only enhance our capabilities but will also facilitate the international trade. “We have best logistics available in Pakistan and we are still improving the infrastructure at our Seaports”, he added.
Rana Tanveer Hussain expressed his profound gratefulness to the Malaysian Minister, Dato Seri Johari Bin Abdul Ghani for sparing his valuable time for the conference. He said, “I shall be happy to further interact with him to enhance the bilateral trade between Malaysia and Pakistan”.