Since Monday, July 5, the price of bottled edible oil has increased by 18.5%. According to all importers in Mauritius, this increase is due to a rise in the price of raw material on the world market.
For Sharon Ramdenee, Chief Executive Officer of Agiliss, prices have increased drastically. “In July 2020, the price of crude soybean oil was 821 US dollars per ton. In January 2021, prices rose to 1001 US dollars per ton and in July of this year the world price index reached 1473 US dollars per ton,” she says.
An increase that occurred for several reasons related to the macro economy, such as production problems in Argentina or the fact that Covid 19 has slowed consumption in China, one of the mass consumer.
According to the CEO of Agiliss, the repercussion in Mauritius comes from the fact that there is no oil producer here. “But there are processing plants. They take crude oil and turn it into refined oil. As a result, there is a significant impact on prices. ”
To top it all off, Sharon Ramdenee points out that the price of freight has increased three or four times and that the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar plays a considerable role.
However, she adds that since the Competition Commission ended the monopoly in the household oil market, this has contributed to a decrease in prices.
“Fortunately, there is competition with the presence of Agiliss, otherwise prices could have increased by 25 to 30%,” she concludes.
