By Chileshe Mwango
The National Traders of Edible Oils Association has alleged that there is a cartel in the edible oil sector which is controlling market prices of cooking oil, a situation which has resulted into exorbitant prices of the commodity.
And the Association is calling on President Edgar Lungu to involve other investigative wings to work with consumer bodies in investigating the exorbitant cooking oil prices on the market.
Association National President Sylvester Kaluwa tells Phoenix News that President Lungu should consider bringing more investigative wings into the matter so that concrete results should be uncovered.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kaluwa has also attributed the high edible oil prices on the market to the continued importation of crude cooking oil raw materials and has appealed to government to allow his association to import about 20,000 metric tons of cooking oil in an effort to bring down edible oil prices on the market.
But Director for the Crushers and Edible Oil Refiners Association Aubrey Chibumba has refuted allegations that there is a cartel in the edible sector saying investigations by relevant authorities have shown that there are no such happenings in the sector.
Currently, a 2.5 liters of cooking oil is selling at over K100 while a 5 liters is selling at over K200, price hikes which have been effected within a short period of time.
PHOENIX NEWS