This is a price that will be subsidised by the government. Announced in the 2022/23 budget and endorsed in the Cabinet session on Friday, July 22, the State Trading Corporation will put this new brand of oil on sale.
The bottle of Smatch will cost Rs 75 per litre. It is vegetable oil imported from India. This first shipment is of 500 tonnes already bottled. The subsidy is estimated to be around Rs 25. This move by the government is to better regulate the oil market in Mauritius. Smatch Oil will compete with Rani’s bottled one-litre oil at Rs109, Moroil Sunflower at Rs 136, Moroil Soya at Rs110, Leader Pure Refined Soya Oil at Rs 109.50, Rajah at Rs 112.34 and Orient Gold Sunflower Oil at Rs 135.
Commerce Minister Soodesh Callichurn at a meeting of MSM Regional No. 9 in Flacq on Friday, July 22, said his ministry is working on the possibility of doing the same for other basic consumer products.
Namely, STC’s SMATCH brand was introduced precisely to compete with the other brands. After Smatch Rice, it is Smatch Oil that will be on the shelves. The Economic Development Board (EDB) and STC will also be looking at Iran in August for other cheaper food alternatives.
