Cooking oil market leaves Arakan State buyers frustrated

By Admin 30 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
30 April 2023, Sittwe

Buyers in Arakan State are unhappy with both the price of cooking oil and the availability of supplies of the kitchen staple.

The Myanmar Oil Dealers Association and Arakan State Oil Dealers Association sell palm oil at a fixed price of K2,500 per litre. But Arakan State residents want to buy enough edible oil in their neighbourhoods.

“Cooking oil is often sold in some wards in Sittwe at reduced prices, but some residents cannot buy it in a timely manner. People who want to buy cooking oil have to queue. Some people lined up but did not buy cooking oil. We want the dealers to sell cooking oil sufficiently at low prices,” said Daw Ma Aye, a resident of Sittwe’s Mingan Ward.

The Arakan State Oil Dealers Association also sells cooking oil in Buthidaung by car at a reduced price once a month.

“The quality of cooking oil is good, but some residents cannot buy it due to insufficient supply. If you buy cooking oil from outside shops, you pay more,” said a local resident of Rathedaung.

Under the arrangement of the Arakan State military council, teh Arakan State Oil Dealers Association sells palm oil at a fixed price of K2,500 per litre, while the price in markets is around K4,800 per litre.

There is not enough supply to sell edible oil at a low price every month, said U Kyaw Aye Maung, chairman of the Arakan State Oil Dealers Association, who added that they submitted a request on April 21 to the relevant authorities to sell more cooking oil to the public at discounted rates.

“We want to distribute enough cooking oil for the grassroots. In order to relieve the grassroots, we have submitted a request to be allowed to purchase a lot of cooking oil from the government so that we can distribute it sufficiently in Arakan State at the government reference price. We have yet to receive any reply from the military regime,” he told DMG.

U Kyaw Aye Maung added that the grassroots in Arakan State needs about 2 million litres of cooking oil every month, but the required amount of cooking oil has not yet been purchased from the military regime.

The regime’s reference price for cooking oil in the Yangon market is K4,680 per viss during the period from April 24 to May 1.