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Pakistan Solvent Industry And Oils Seeds Production

The industry has continued to grow at a fast pace. It has been estimated by the All Pakistan Solvent Extractors Association (APSEA) that crushing capacity has reached a startling three million tons and there are today a total of 110 extraction plants! This is a far cry from the dozen or so "sick" units, which existed when the industry came onto being a few years back (7-8 years ago). However, current capacity utilization is estimated at only 50 percent i.e., 1.5 MMT. Increasingly, there are plants being built near Port Qasim, which crush imported material. The plants built in Punjab province concentrate on crushing local crops. The increase in production capacity is reflected on the following imported oilseeds graph.

With the increase in crushing capacity, the industry has been faced with many problems. The major problem is that the majority of meal is consumed domestically in the poultry feed industry. The total poultry production is estimated around 3.0 MMT of commercial feed and the share of oilseed meal is estimated at 700,000 MT (soy meal share is estimated at 175,000 MT). This sets an "unofficial cap" on the quantity of imported seed, the reason being the prices for locally crushed meal are high at ex-factory to stimulate export activity. Plants have only resorted to export when inventory levels are high or they are tired of giving long credit in the local market. Consequently, Pakistan has to develop its livestock feed market in order to create more demand for meal.