Pwani Oil Products Limited, the makers of popular household cooking oils in the country cite a lack of dollars.
The Freshfri, Salit, and Fry Mate cooking oil makers closed down their plants citing a lack of raw materials occasioned by insufficient dollars to settle supplier bills on time.
According to the oil, manufacturer management said commercial banks were only processing half of the dollar orders it needs to pay suppliers from Malaysia.
The embattled manufacturers have been dealt yet another blow with tough competition for crude palm oil and the fact that Indonesia has cut down on exports to meet domestic demand.
Indonesia is the leading producer of crude palm oil and makes for 60 per cent of global edible vegetable oil shipments. The country is also a producer of sunflower, rapeseed oil and soya beans.
Pwani Oil Products Ltd, located in Mombasa, manufactures cooking oils, fats, laundry and toilet soaps.
In Kenya, commodity prices have been increasing with the Russia-Ukraine war’s impact being felt.
Cooking oil is among commodities whose prices have more than doubled in the last two months, with the latest development meaning the prices could only go higher, then drop.