The wholesale reference rate of palm oil for the Yangon market was set lower for a week ending 1 October at K4,375 per viss, according to the Supervisory Committee on edible oil import and distribution.
The reference price was registered at K4,440 per viss last week ending 24 September. This week’s price showed a decrease of K65 per viss compared to that of the previous week.
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 including transport costs, tariffs and banking services to issue the wholesale market reference rate for edible oil weekly.
Yet, the market price was higher than the reference price.
The Consumer Affairs Department under the Ministry of Commerce notified the consumers of lodging the complaints for overcharging through the Call Centre’s Hotline in late August. The Department urged consumers not to buy palm oil at high prices while the ministry is making efforts to bring down the palm oil prices.
The Department is making concerted efforts to steer the high volatility in palm oil prices in the retail market and offer fairer prices to the consumers, in coordination with the Myanmar Edible Oil Dealers Association and oil importing companies. The complaints for overcharging can be lodged over Hot Line: 1535 of the Call Center of the Consumers Affairs Department or sent to the Facebook Page of the Department and the Facebook pages of the region and state departments concerned.
A task force for edible oil price stability organized by the Myanmar Edible Oil Dealers’ Association has started issuing the lists of wholesale/retail shops of each company from 28 August, including the address of the shops in the respective townships and the number of available barrels.
The task force will govern the market to meet the satisfaction of the end-users in the supply chain and get easy access to the consumers.
It will also supervise the market to ensure the palm oil sales at wholesale prices are not higher than two per cent of the net profit margin and retail prices not higher than 10 per cent margin.
The domestic consumption of palm oil is estimated at 1 million tonnes per year. The local palm oil production is just about 400,000 tonnes. To meet the domestic demands, about 700,000 tonnes of palm oil are yearly imported through Malaysia and Indonesia. — NN/EM
