60% increase in cooking oil price

MBABANE - The average price of cooking oil has increased to over 60 per cent on most of its brands this year.

Experts say this is due to the on-going Russia-Ukraine War which has resulted to the increase in fuel prices and distribution.

This is according to Gugu Shabangu who is the acting Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture.

In essence, it is not only motorists and the business community who feels the pinch of the fuel hikes but the public at large. The ordinary consumer who does not drive any vehicle is also affected as even the price of cooking oil is up.

“The average price of cooking oil has increased to over 60 per cent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war has made the situation worse. The two countries, Russia and Ukraine, are major players in edible oil seeds sunflower production and the processed edible oil.

They are involved in the export of the important food commodity,” Shabangu said.

Processing

She explained that the local processing of cooking oil was about 60 per cent of local consumption with most of the crude oil (raw material for edible oil processing being obtained in South Africa) which also is importing it from the two countries and others. The local supply has been slightly affected by the Russia-Ukraine war effects.

“Due to that there was adequate local stock prior to the war, therefore, the price changes have been further cushioned by this action,” she said.

Shabangu also said if the South

African supply was not adequate to meet the local demand for the crude oil, then the country would have to source it directly from Argentina and Brazil. She outlined that this would be at a higher cost because it was not from the SACU Region resulting in higher Custom Duties.

She revealed that so far there was no shortage of supply of cooking oil that had been noted and reported to the Ministry.

Meanwhile, the high rise of price in cooking oil is stressing everyone around the world, research showed. Its price is going up daily.

Shortage

It has come to point that in some of the big stores, customers are only allowed to buy only two five litres (5L) of cooking oil in all cooking oil products in some of the stores, especially in Siteki.

It is envisaged that in a few weeks or a month to come there will be shortage of cooking oil in some parts of the world which is why the limited purchase in some shops.

According to one consumer who remained anonymous, the price of cooking oil is affecting them in the business industry because as workers, they wanted to generate profit and if the price is up then they will suffer losses since ‘you cannot change the pricing of food anyhow’.

“My salary has not increased but products have increased in a way that you couldn’t think of, bus fares are up, food is now expensive and we’re running out of cooking oil and petrol, how are we going to survive?” a consumer said.

Another consumer, Mduduzi Shongwe, said the new pricing of cooking oil was too much and the fact that some people were making a living using it especially in restaurants is painful when it becomes so expensive.

Shongwe also affirmed that there was a time when he went to Siteki for shopping and found out that as a customer they were only allowed to buy a certain number of the cooking oil.

Anonymity

Meanwhile, a shop owner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the price had shot up because of increased prices in neighbouring South Africa (SA) and also affirmed that the prices might go up again next week. The shop owner said even SA was running out of stock.

The Director of Trade in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Newman Ntshangase, said as a country ‘we do have cooking oil at the moment’.

He said there was a time this week when he visited some of the shops and did not notice anything different in cooking oil shelves.

He also said he was not aware that in some shops around the country, customers were limited to only two bottles of cooking oil.