August 22, 2006	Tuesday	Rajab 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 21: Manufacturers have increased the price of vegetable ghee and cooking oil by an average of Rs6 per kg over the last three months and are planning to further increase the rates in case the government failed to reduce taxes on imported edible oils.

“The price of vegetable ghee and cooking oil will increase further in the next two months. We have already conveyed our concerns to the relevant quarter,” a leading manufacturer of ghee on condition of anonymity told Dawn on Monday.

This would be the third food item to witness increase in tax following sugar and pulse during the last few months.

The manufacturers said this price was likely to be further increased in the coming months in light of the global edible oil scenario.

The incidence of duties and taxes charged by the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) on vegetable ghee/cooking oil was around Rs20 per kg and the only option available with the government to bring down the price of these items was to reduce this incidence substantially, he said.

The annual demand for this essential food item is estimated around 2.2 million tons. To meet this demand, 1.674 million tons of edible oil were imported during the year 2005-2006. Out of this, RBD Palm Olein constituted 1.375 million tons, Crude Palm Oil (CPO) 0.248 million tons and RBD Palm Oil, 0.033 million tons.

The import of soyabean oil was nominal — 18,150 tons. The remaining requirements were met from cottonseed oil and sunflower/safflower produced locally and edible oil extracted from the imported oilseeds by the solvent extraction units.

According to statistics, the FOB price of CPO, RBD Palm Oil, RBD Palm Olein and crude degummed Soyabean Oil has been quoted as $423, $470, $475 and $554 respectively on July 25, 2006 due to substantial increase in the crude petroleum oil price in international market and drastic reduction in supply of palm oil by the two leading producers — Indonesia and Malaysia.

Average prices of CPO, RBD palm oil and RBD palm olein during the year 2004-05 were $371, $404 and $414 (FOB), respectively due to some stability in the crude petroleum price in international market.