The State Trading Corporation’s (STC) Smatch Oil will be on the shelves at a fixed price of Rs 75 from this Friday. But it is not the oil imported from India but supplied by local company, Moroil, following a setback.
The oil shipment has not yet reached Mauritius. The Ministry of Commerce and STC wanted to keep their word to put the Smatch at Rs 75 on the market this Friday, August 5. In the meantime, the STC had issued a call for tenders to local importers and bottlers and Moroil won the tender. The STC has taken one million litres of oil but the purchase price and the amount of the subsidy are still unknown for the moment.
Apart from Moroil, all other importers are competitors. The oil is eagerly awaited by the STC and the Ministry of Commerce to remove this subsidy. It should be noted that the monthly consumption of oil by Mauritians is 2.5 million. The market will hold for some time with the support of other importers who operate without subsidies but will not be able to match this price of Rs 75.
