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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE price of locally manufactured cooking oil has increased marginally in what producers have attributed to the recent increase in the price of crude cooking oil on the international market.

Oil Expressers’ Association of Zimbabwe president Busisa Moyo confirmed the development saying local producers have of late been facing difficulties in paying for imported crude cooking oil, which is refined and packaged locally.

“The price of crude cooking oil has increased and this also adds onto the production costs by the manufacturers,” said Moyo, who is also the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president.

A snap survey by this paper revealed that some of the retailers in the Bulawayo Central Business District are selling two litres cooking oil at $3,25 up from $3.

A report by ZBCtv also indicates that a crude cooking oil shortage has affected local supply as manufacturers are failing to pay foreign suppliers following new exchange control measures announced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Of late, local oil expressers have been able to meet demand after increasing their productivity to competitive levels.

The situation has been worsened by the lack of local production of soya bean and cotton seed by farmers, which has forced producers to rely on imported raw materials.

In April, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha announced that Zimbabwe’s oil industry is now operating at 85 percent capacity with some of the companies in the sector eyeing the export market in Sadc and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

He said over a year ago some oil expressers were saved from closure after the government removed cooking oil from the open import general licence.

The Oil Expressers’ Association of Zimbabwe is on record as saying its members have a capacity of over 12,000 tonnes per month of cooking oil while local demand is estimated at 10,000 tonnes per month.

Over the years, Zimbabwe has been importing $220 million worth of cooking oil annually on the back of low capacity utilisation in the sector.

In the 2014 national budget, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa introduced several measures to stem importation of products that are locally produced.