Business
Cooking Oil Price Increases By 8% In Bauchi
Price of domestic and
foreign cooking oil has increased by about 7.5 per cent in major markets in Bauchi.
Investigations last Tuesday showed that a drum of palm oil sells for N52, 000 compared with the former price of N43, 000 per drum.
A drum of Soya beans oil sells for N62, 000 against the old price of N48, 000.00 two weeks ago, while 20 litres of palm oil sells for N5, 500 from N4, 700 two weeks ago.
The 25 litres of Turkey brand of cooking oil now sells for N7, 200 from the previous price of N5, 500.
Some traders told our correspondent that the price increased was due to the recent government policy on importation of cooking oil.
Alhaji Abdullahi Abdu, a trader at the Muda Lawan Market, Bauchi, said that government had banned importation of foreign cooking oil.
“The shortage of the product is responsible for the rise in the price of locally made soya beans oil,” he said.
Abdu said that people were no longer buying the local groundnut oil because of alleged health implications.
Another trader, Malam Mohammad Sani at Bauchi Central Market, said that the price normally fluctuated, adding that the current high price might not be unconnected with forth coming Christmas and New Year festivities.
Umar Mohammed at the Wunti Market also described the cooking oil price increase as normal as it usually occurred at the end of the year and during festivities.
He also said that the increase in the price of imported oil was caused by the government policy on importation and the declining interest in groundnut oil.
It would be recalled that during the last Eid-El-Kabir festival, prices of commodities, especially cooking oil, rose by about seven per cent.