Myanmar Edible Oil Dealers’ Association (MEODA) urged distributors to sell palm oil at reasonable price during pandemic period

The palm oil distributors need to sell the palm oil at a reasonable price to prevent the shortage of domestic palm oil as imported palm oil prices are high during the pandemic period, said the Myanmar Edible Oil Dealers’ Association (MEODA) in its statement on 7 January,
“Currently, the domestic palm oil price is rising as imported oil prices are on the rise,” said MEODA Chair U San Lin.
“These days, the price of imported oil is on the rise. As you know, the domestic edible oil price is directly linked to the international price. That is the reason why our domestic palm oil price is hiking in this pandemic period,” he explained.
Myanmar annually imports 700,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia to meet the domestic demand, he added.
The association is coordinating with the relevant government departments to distribute the healthy palm oil at a reasonable price and meet the domestic market’s self-sufficiency in COVID-19 period.
According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) official data, about 2 million metric tons of palm oil were stockpiled in 2019, and about 1.2 million metric tons also accumulated in January 2021.
Additionally, the palm oil price has jumped to a price ranging between US$1,055 and $1,075 per tonne from $780 per tonne in last October as the flooded farmlands caused by erratic weather conditions in Malaysia and the lack of intensive farming activities affected by COVID-19. The production also declined because of factories not able to operate as usual. There were more imports of edible oil due to tax reduction and increases in the export taxes in the palm oil manufacturing countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
The domestic palm oil market situation changes depending on the foreign palm oil price and foreign exchange rate. According to the current situation, palm oil is priced at K2,500 per viss ( a viss equals 1.6 kg) in the domestic market, according to MEODA.
To ensure the self-sufficiency during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government purchased over 12,000 tonnes of palm oil for reserves and distributed them to the oil tanks in the respective regions and states. There is no decrease in domestic palm oil demand as the imported oil companies stored about 12,000 tonnes in palm oil reservoirs for reserves, according to the association statement.
The domestic consumption of edible oil is estimated at 1 million tons per year. The local cooking oil production is just about 400,000 tonnes, and about 700,000 tonnes of cooking oil are imported annually to meet the domestic demand.  (Translated by Hay Mar)

(The Global New Light of Myanmar: https://www.gnlm.com.mm/distributors-need-to-sell-palm-oil-at-reasonable-prices-during-pandemic-period-meoda/ )

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