Alarm over illegal edible oil brands

Eight top cooking oil manufacturers Wednesday evening raised the alarm over thousands of tonnes of the commodity that have been released into the market without certification.

The Kenya Association of Manufacturers’ Edible Oils sub-sector expressed concern over what they termed increased importation and sale of uncertified edible oils that are unfit for human consumption.

The companies that have raised the red flag are Bidco Oil Refineries, Pwani Oil, Kapa Oil, Menengai Oil Refineries, Edible Oils Processors, Diamond Industries, United Millers and Gill Oil.

They have written to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) informing them of the alarming trend.

But no steps have been taken so far, even though the development spells doom for edible oil manufacturing industry, they said.
Render thousands jobless

“We wrote a letter to KRA complaining about the importation of the brands of cooking oils into the country without duty payment, hence selling at very low price compared to our own products,” Pwani Oil director Rajul Malde told the Nation at Magongo in Mombasa.

Mr Malde said that some 6,500 tons of illicit cooking oil from Malaysia has been entering the Kenyan market every month since May last year.

If the trend continues, he warned, the local edible oil market will collapse and render thousands of Kenyans jobless.

According to Mr Malde, the cartels are selling the 20 litre jerry-can oil at Sh1, 900 in Mombasa and at Sh2, 100 in Nairobi, which is Sh700 less than the market value.