ARTICLE 3 #prices

Cooking oil prices in Pakistan’s retail market have hit a 15-month high. The surge comes on the back of rising palm oil import costs, which have pushed domestic prices higher.

This year’s ample monsoon rains are poised to deliver an abundant harvest.“Our top priority is making sure we have enough food,” a senior government official told Reuters, declining to be named because he was not authorised to speak with the media.“But since we have way more rice than we actually need for that, we’ve decided to use some of it for ethanol production,” the official said.The state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) has allocated a record 5.2 million metric tonnes of rice for ethanol, equivalent to nearly 9% of global rice shipments in the 2024/25 marketing year ending in June.In the previous year, less than 3,000 tonnes of FCI rice went into ethanol.FCI buys nearly half of India’s rice crop and currently has reserves, including unmilled paddy, of a record 59.5 million metric tonnes on June 1, far exceeding the government’s target of 13.5 million tonnes for July 1.

Competing exporters (Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan) are under pressure, but the dynamics are mixed: some are lowering prices; others are focusing on quality or niche markets.

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has announced plans to seek a 10-year extension of the land lease for Malaysia Holdings Berhad’s (MSM) sugar refinery located in Perai. The refinery operates on land owned by the Railway Assets Corporation (RAC), and the proposed extension aims to provide MSM with ample time to plan its long-term operations without the risk of immediate closure or relocation.