THE wholesale reference rate of palm oil for the Yangon mar­ket slightly decreased to K7,245 per viss for the week ending 2 February 2025, from K7,255 re­corded last week ending 26 Janu­ary, according to the Supervisory Committee on Edible Oil Import and Distribution.

 

The Supervisory Committee on Edible Oil Import and Distri­bution under the Ministry of Com­merce has been closely observ­ing the FOB prices in Malaysia and Indonesia, adding transport costs, tariffs and banking servic­es to decide the wholesale mar­ket reference rate for edible oil weekly.

 

Despite the reference price, the market price is way too high.

 

The committee notified that any person who is involved in price gouging and oil storage to attempt market manipulation will face legal action under the Es­sential Goods and Services Law.

 

The department is working together with the Myanmar Oil Dealers’ Association and the cooking oil importing companies to offer affordable rates of import­ed palm oil for consumers.

 

The complaints for over­charging can be lodged over hotline 1535 of the call centre of the Consumers Affairs Depart­ment or sent to the Facebook page of the department and the region and state departments concerned.

 

The domestic palm oil con­sumption is estimated at one mil­lion tonnes per year. The local palm oil production is just about 400,000 tonnes. About 700,000 tonnes of palm oil are yearly imported through Malaysia and Indonesia to meet domestic de­mands. — NN/KK