Gov’t to import 40 mln liter of edible oil

In a bid to solve the current edible oil supply shortage and prevent high price increment of oil, the government has planned to import 40 million liter of edible oil.

Starting from last week high price increment was observed on the price of edible oil. For instance 5 liter of oil price soared to 1000 Birr from not more than 700 Birr.

The price hike issue was among trending issues in social medias.

“A macroeconomic team consists of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration (MoTRI), Addis Abeba Trade Bureau and other governmental entities decided to provide 40 million liter of edible oil to solve the supply shortage,” said Mesfin Assefa, Deputy Head of Addis Abeba Trade Bureau in a presser on Monday.

“The imported oil will be distributed in the market in a short time,” he added without mentioning specific dates.

The Ethiopian Trading Businesses Corporation (ETBC) and Ethiopian Industrial Inputs Development Enterprise (EIIDE) will distribute the imported oil.

“Phibela and Shemu Edible Oil Factories as well as ETBC will supply 3.1 million, 1.5 million and 2.4 million liter of edible oil to the market, respectively,” said Mesfin.

Government attributed the global market fluctuations for the price surge.

“The increase in global commodity price is the major reason for such a high price increment,” Meskerem Bahiru, who is in charge of Trade Commodities Price Supervision Director at MoTRI.

Hoarding edible oil products is among the problems in the market.

Hoarding is a major cause that spurs inflation, says Liku Beneberu, Trade Competition and Consumer Protection Director at Oromia Trade Bureau.

“We seized 500,000 liter of hoarded edible oil in a warehouse at Adama city,” he said.

“Implementing legal and administrative measures is not the only viable solution,” said Liku, adding, “We’re creating consensus with them [businesses] to distribute the edible oil as quick to the market”.