Which palm grade does Pakistan buy?

RBD palm olein is the volume grade: it is the frying and cooking oil sold loose and in pouches across the country. RBD palm oil and palm stearin go to the vanaspati and shortening plants, and crude palm oil to the refiners with their own bleaching and deodorising lines. A buyer who says only 'palm oil' is asked which of the four he means before anything is priced.

What parcel sizes work into Karachi and Port Qasim?

Bulk parcels of 3,000 to 30,000 t on vegetable-oil tankers to 35,000 DWT at the Port Qasim Liquid Cargo Terminal, usually as part cargoes on a Straits-to-Pakistan tanker calling two or three receivers. A ghee plant taking 200 to 500 t a month is a flexitank buyer on a liner schedule, priced and insured differently. Tell us which of the two you are.

How is the cargo certified?

An independent surveyor samples at the load tank and certifies FFA, moisture and impurities, iodine value, colour and, for crude palm oil, DOBI, with quantity by shore tank and ship's ullage. The refinery of origin is on the certificate of origin. On arrival the product must meet the applicable Pakistan Standard under PSQCA conformity rules; buyers' own laboratories test the ship's tanks before discharge.

Does CBIL fix the tanker?

Yes. Our chartering desk, LaycanDesk, prices vegetable-oil tankers from Sumatra, Kalimantan and Peninsular Malaysia to Karachi and Port Qasim, as full cargoes or part parcels, so a CFR figure and a FOB figure can be shown side by side.

Indian Ocean · Pakistan

Palm Oil Suppliers CFR Karachi and Port Qasim, Pakistan

The world's third-largest palm oil import market, fed almost entirely from Indonesia and Malaysia

Pakistan declared 3,092,900 t of HS 1511 palm oil imports in 2024, worth USD 2.93 billion at an average USD 947 per tonne: Indonesia supplied 2,729,000 t and Malaysia 362,900 t, with no other origin above 1,000 t. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics put the July 2024 to June 2025 fiscal year at 3.21 million tonnes and USD 3.39 billion, the country's fourth-largest import line. Palm oil is 70 to 75 per cent of Pakistan's edible-oil consumption and the country imports more than 80 per cent of the oil it eats, so the buyers are the refiners, vanaspati (ghee) plants and packers grouped around Karachi and up the Punjab. The oil lands at two places: the Liquid Cargo Terminal at Port Qasim, a dedicated private edible-oil jetty rated at 4 million tonnes a year that berths tankers to 35,000 DWT, and Port Qasim's Berth 1, which discharges edible oil and palm fatty acid by direct pipeline to the bulk oil terminals behind it; the Karachi oil piers take the balance.

CBIL brokers RBD palm olein (IV 56 min, the frying and cooking grade Pakistan buys most), RBD palm oil and palm stearin for ghee and shortening, and crude palm oil for the refiners who process their own, loading Dumai, Belawan, Kuala Tanjung and the Kalimantan ports in Indonesia and Pasir Gudang, Port Klang and Lahad Datu in Malaysia, on CFR and CIF Karachi or Port Qasim terms. Every parcel ships under PORAM or MEOMA contract terms with an independent surveyor's quality and quantity certificate at load (FFA, moisture and impurities, iodine value, colour, DOBI for crude) and the origin refinery named on the certificate of origin; Pakistan's own tests apply on arrival under PSQCA conformity rules. A requirement that states the buyer, the grade, the parcel size, the discharge terminal and the LC bank gets a firm answer; one without them gets a question first.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices vegetable oil tanker chartering on LaycanDesk.

The market in figures

Declared imports, 2024: 3,092,900 t, USD 2.93 bn (FY 2024-25: 3.21 Mt, USD 3.39 bn)
Origins, 2024: Indonesia 88% · Malaysia 12%
Discharge points: Port Qasim Liquid Cargo Terminal (35,000 DWT, 4 Mt/yr) · Port Qasim Berth 1 (pipeline to bulk oil terminals) · Karachi oil piers
Grades: RBD palm olein IV 56 min · RBD palm oil · palm stearin · crude palm oil
Parcel size and form: Bulk tanker parcels 3,000 to 30,000 t under PORAM/MEOMA terms; flexitanks for small lots

Official trade data; sources listed below. Landed values are the importing country's declared CIF, not CBIL prices.

Questions buyers ask

Which palm grade does Pakistan buy?: RBD palm olein is the volume grade: it is the frying and cooking oil sold loose and in pouches across the country. RBD palm oil and palm stearin go to the vanaspati and shortening plants, and crude palm oil to the refiners with their own bleaching and deodorising lines. A buyer who says only 'palm oil' is asked which of the four he means before anything is priced.
What parcel sizes work into Karachi and Port Qasim?: Bulk parcels of 3,000 to 30,000 t on vegetable-oil tankers to 35,000 DWT at the Port Qasim Liquid Cargo Terminal, usually as part cargoes on a Straits-to-Pakistan tanker calling two or three receivers. A ghee plant taking 200 to 500 t a month is a flexitank buyer on a liner schedule, priced and insured differently. Tell us which of the two you are.
How is the cargo certified?: An independent surveyor samples at the load tank and certifies FFA, moisture and impurities, iodine value, colour and, for crude palm oil, DOBI, with quantity by shore tank and ship's ullage. The refinery of origin is on the certificate of origin. On arrival the product must meet the applicable Pakistan Standard under PSQCA conformity rules; buyers' own laboratories test the ship's tanks before discharge.
Does CBIL fix the tanker?: Yes. Our chartering desk, LaycanDesk, prices vegetable-oil tankers from Sumatra, Kalimantan and Peninsular Malaysia to Karachi and Port Qasim, as full cargoes or part parcels, so a CFR figure and a FOB figure can be shown side by side.

Sources

UN Comtrade, reporter 586 (Pakistan), HS 1511, imports, 2024: world 3,092,900 t, USD 2,928.8 million, USD 947/t; Indonesia 2,729,000 t at USD 946; Malaysia 362,900 t at USD 950 (desk pull of the public preview API, 28 Sep 2026).
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, trade in goods FY2025 vs FY2024 (table republished by the Pakistan Business Council): palm oil 3.21 million t, USD 3.39 billion, fourth-largest import line.
Profit (Pakistan Today), 9 Feb 2026, 'Palm oil sits at the heart of Pakistan's food economy': palm oil 70-75% of edible-oil consumption; Pakistan imports more than 80% of its edible oils; about 9% of global palm oil import demand.
Port Qasim Authority, pqa.gov.pk/en/facilities: Liquid Cargo Terminal built by Felda Westbury Qasim (Pvt) Ltd, tankers up to 35,000 DWT, designed capacity 4 million tonnes per annum; Berth 1 used for edible oil and palm fatty acid with pumping to the bulk oil terminals.
GAPKI (Indonesian Palm Oil Association), 20 Nov 2025: Pakistan FY25 palm oil imports 3.21 million t, USD 3.4 billion; Karachi and Port Qasim named as the entry ports.
Grades and contract terms: PORAM (Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia) and MEOMA standard contracts; RBD palm olein IV 56 min is the PORAM standard specification.
PSQCA, psqca.com.pk/import-export: imports subject to the same Pakistan Standards as domestically produced goods (Import Policy Order, section 5-B-II).