eBusiness Weekly
Munyaradzi Musiiwa
MIDLANDS – Oil expressers in Zimbabwe have said they will this week supply adequate cooking oil on the market which will be sold at less than $4 per 2 litre unit to curb cooking oil shortages and subsequent spiking demand.
This comes after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) availed foreign currency to oil expressers to import soya beans and other raw materials required for the manufacturing of cooking oil.
In an interview on the sidelines of Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) Conference in Gweru, Oil Expressers Association of Zimbabwe (OEAZ) Chairperson Mr Busisa Moyo said oil expressers are ready to supply cooking oil and meet the market demand following Government intervention.
Mr Moyo said the retailers will however have to ration cooking oil to curb panic buying that had resulted in artificial spiking demand of cooking oil in the past few weeks.
“We approached Government as oil expressers because we wanted foreign currency to import soya beans. This is the off season and it means the demand for soya beans goes up. Following the cooking oil shortages, RBZ responded and allocated us foreign currency and I am glad to announce that we will be able to supply adequate cooking oil to the market.
What the retailers need to do is to ration the cooking oil so that everyone gets it. We know there were some ridiculous prices that were being charged by some shops per 2lt unit. The cooking oil price will not exceed $4. The spiking demand was also caused by the monetary policy announcement and people most of whom speculators triggered panic buying as people tried to dump and clear Real Time Gross Settlements (RTGS) balances,” he said.
Mr Moyo said oil expressers required at least $20 million in foreign currency.
He said the country was producing 60 000 tonnes of soya bean annually against Oil Expressers’ installed capacity of 400 000 tonnes.
Mr Moyo the country was importing the deficit.
“As Oil Expressers we have an installed capacity of 400 000 tonnes but local farmers are producing 60 000 tonnes. What it means is that we will be importing the deficit. This means that we need more foreign currency.
“Although we had an increase in soya bean production from 37 000 last year to 60 000 this year, we are the least in terms of soya bean production in the Southern region. South Africa produces 1.45 million tonnes, Zambia produces 320 000 tonnes, while Malawi is at 120 000 tonnes,” he said.
