Viss of palm oil sells for K4,000 after govt purchasing plan to ease prices

By DMG 25 Nov 2021

DMG Newsroom
25 November 2021, Sittwe 

More than 30,000 viss of palm oil that were bought with the aim of curbing palm oil market prices in Arakan State are now being sold for K4,000 per viss. 

A total of 30,800 viss of palm oil, equivalent to 110,880 pounds, has arrived in Arakan State, said U Tint Aung OO, chair of the Arakan State Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

“We bought the palm oil from the government and the city palm oil shop in Sittwe is selling them to the public at a fair price,” he said. 

Ko Tint Min Tun, manager of the city palm oil shop, said a viss of palm oil is being sold for K4,000. 

“Our shop could buy 71 barrels of palm oil. One barrel contains 110 viss of palm oil. The edible oil arrived to us on Sunday,” he said. 

U Hla Maung Thein, a trader in Sittwe who was able to buy about 30 barrels, said his shop would sell palm oil for about K4,000 per viss after adding transportation costs and 2% profit. 

“The price of palm oil we buy from the government is cheaper. So, we can sell it at a fair price. We have to pay K4,300 for a viss if we buy palm oil from other vendors,” he explained. 

The price of palm oil in the broader market is about K4,500 and the price will be lower if more of the edible oil is allocated, according to palm oil traders. 

The price of some basic foodstuffs and commodities in Myanmar has nearly doubled since the coup on February 1, hitting people at the grassroots level particularly hard.