Unity Foods has announced plans to acquire an edible oil refinery with a production capacity of 500 tons per day.
The board of directors has approved the acquisition of the edible oil refinery situated at Port Qasim, Karachi for approximately Rs. 850 million which includes transfer taxes and other pertinent costs.
According to the notification to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, “The project includes land, building, installed and running plant and machinery with all ancillary assets. The acquisition will take place in two or three weeks.”
The company also expects to incur additional expenses in refurbishing the plant and enhancing the packing capacity and bringing full commercial operation online by July this year.
Unity Foods, which is the producer of Dastak Oil, is engaged in processing Soft Oils such as Soybean, Canola, Sunflower, rapeseed oils & Palm oils. It is also engaged in providing special and industrial fats such as chocolate fats, Confectionery fat and bakery fats with Culinary and Functional Oil Fats.
It also specializes in providing some finest quality protein supplements to add to the vibrant poultry and livestock enriched feed.
Industry Overview
Pakistan is one of the top edible oil importing countries in the world with a per capita consumption of about 17kgs. Pakistan’s overall market of edible oil is estimated at 4.6 million tons with annual growth of 6.5%. Of that. The oil market constitutes 33% while the banaspati market has a 67% share.
Palm oil consists of about 94 percent of edible imports. Edible oil sector almost entirely depends on imports.
At the time of filing this report, UNITY’S shares at the bourse were trading at Rs 22.39, down by Rs 0.02 or -0.09%, with a turnover of 917,000 shares.
