Pak to buy more Malaysian palm oil over row with India

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that New Delhi threatened Malaysia for criticising India's policy on Kashmir by cutting their palm oil import, Islamabad will do its best to compensate for that.

Kuala Lumpur: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday thanked his Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad, for "speaking up" on the Kashmir issue and promised to do his best to buy more Malaysian palm oil to "compensate" it after India restricted the import of the commodity from the country amid a diplomatic row.

"You have spoken for the justice for Kashmiris, for which we are thankful," Khan said during a joint press conference with Mahathir.

"We noticed that New Delhi threatened Malaysia for supporting the Kashmir cause to cut their palm oil import, Pakistan will do its best to compensate for that," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan.

Indonesia and Malaysia are the two countries that supply palm oil. Malaysia produces 19 million tonnes of palm oil in a year, while Indonesia produces 43 million tonnes, according to trade data.

India, the world's largest importer of vegetable oils, buys nearly 15 million tonnes annually. Pakistan bought 1.08 million tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia in 2019, while India bought 4.4 million tonnes, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council.

New Delhi has imposed restrictions on imports of refined palm oil, a move that could discourage the inbound shipment of the commodity from Malaysia.

The move came after the Malaysian prime minister repeatedly criticised India's policy on Kashmir and the new citizenship law. Mahathir had also raised the Kashmir issue in the UN General Assembly session in September.

However, the external affairs ministry in New Delhi has said that the government's imposition of restrictions on imports of refined palm oil is product-specific and not country-specific.

With inputs from PTI