Consumers feel the pinch as prices of edible oil rise again

Dar es Salaam. Edible oil prices have started to rise again as was the case in April when two ships carrying imported oil were held up at Dar es Salaam port for several weeks over a tax dispute.

A random survey carried out by The Citizen yesterday in the city’s suburbs of Mbagala, Tabata, Buguruni and Mabibo showed that the popular brands of cooking were selling at between Sh4,600 and Sh5,000 per litre, up from between Sh3,000 and Sh4,500 a few weeks ago.

Despite the government’s incentives to local manufacturers, consumers of edible oil are still feeling the pinch of soaring prices.

The vice chairman of the Tanzania Sunflower Processors Association (Tasupa), Mr Enock Ndondole, told The Citizen that the government’s decision to increase duty on imported edible oil had yet to have a desirable impact as far as local processors were concerned.

This is due to low production among thousands of small-scale producers, he added.

“It’s still too early to assess the impact of the government’s decision to increase excise duty on imported edible oil because local production is still unsatisfactory,” Nr Ndondole said.

In June, this year, local sunflower oil processors warned of a possible failure to meet demand for edible oil despite the government’s move, which is aimed at protecting the domestic edible oil industry.

Tasupa chairman Ringo Iringo said that while more than 800 Tasupa members each had machinery capable of producing up to 3,000 kilogrammes of sunflower oil daily, they were currently producing an average of only 213 kilogrammes.

“We have big investments in machinery for processing oil seeds, but we are being held back by lack of quality sunflower seeds,” he said.