Malaysia to help Pakistan in edible oil refining

[LahoreEstate]

KARACHI (February 08 2009): The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has agreed to extend technical co-operation to Pakistan's edible oil refiners during next five years to help the 'infant' industry maximise its yield by 94 percent. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners Association (PEORA) and MPOB at a local hotel on Saturday.

The deal, under which the Malaysian Board would send its technical experts every year, in May or June, to train Pakistani 'Process Engineers' in the edible oil refineries, was signed by PEORA Chairman Muhammad Hanif and MPOB Country Manager Esa Bin Mansoor.

With Port Qasim Authority (PQA) Chairman Afsar Din Talpur as chief guest, the MoU signing ceremony was attended by Malaysian Consul-General Khalid Abbasi, Ports and Shipping Director General Vice Admiral Asad Qureshi and officials from KPT, PQA and executive members of PEORA.

According to PEORA Vice Chairman A Rasheed Janmohammad, the agreement would help the refiners in Pakistan, which imports 2.5 million tons raw palm oil/refined palm oil/olien/crude soyabean oil, and produces a meagre 0.5 million tons locally to meet its 3 million tons demand, to improve their yield and ensure that their losses could not exceed from 1 percent. He said Pakistan also imports about one million ton oilseeds, which gives about 0.4 million tons soft oil.

He said since the concept of continuous edible oil refinery plant is relatively new, such technical support from Malaysia would be very instrumental in efficiently running the refinery plant in Pakistan.

Under the MoU, Rashid said, MPOB would organise a technical seminar in Pakistan, which is the world's third largest but unrecognised importer of edible oil every year, on the subject of value-addition in the field of edible oil refining. This, he said, would help Pakistan get international recognition/exposure as an important and prominent part of the edible oil market world-wide.

The PEORA vice chairman said as raw palm oil was relatively cheaper than the refined product, and the country's nine working edible oil refineries were saving a considerable amount of foreign exchange for Pakistan.

He said the refineries were producing fresh quality of RBD palm oil, which caters to the need of the country's ghee industry. He expressed his Association's willingness to set up a fruits crushing mill to enhance the local production of the essential food item.

PQA chairman said the deal would boost to trade ties between the two countries. He gave the refiners a "good news" that PQA had finally removed the four long-awaited naval moorings, which were a hurdle in the way of establishing liquid cargo terminal at Port Qasim.

Earlier, Muhammad Hanif welcomed the guests and highlighted various problems faced by the refiners. Esa Bin Mansoor said the development would make Pak-Malaysian relationship "better, stronger and more lasting". He also expressed optimism that in future Pakistan would purchase more palm oil from his country.

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