By KENNEDY MUPESENI –

THE increase of duty on imported edible oil will increase the prices of cooking oil in Zambia, cross border traders in Lusaka have said.
In the 2015 Budget, the Government has proposed to increase the specific duty rate on refined edible oil to K2.20 per kilogramme from 85 ngwee per kilogramme to bring it the same as 25 per cent charged on imported refined edible oil.
But traders say instead of increasing the import duty as a way of encouraging local products the Government should give more incentives to the local producers for them to reduce the prices of the product and make it affordable to the consumers.
Speaking on behalf of other traders, Abel Kakoma said the upward adjustment on import duty will increase prices for cooking oil in the country.
“This is going to force prices of cooking oil to rise, because as you can observe that imported cooking oil are cheaper than produced cooking oil,” he said.
He said Government should rescind the decision adding that consumers would be affected in one way or the other.
Mr Kakoma who imports cooking oil and sells from Soweto Market said locally-produced oils were expensive forcing them to look for cheaper sources.
He proposed that the Government should give more incentives to the local producers to bring the prices of cooking oil down and make it affordable to the consumers.
A check on prices of cooking oil at Lusaka’s central business district indicated variation in prices of imported and locally produced edible
oil with local products fetching higher.
For example a 750 millilitre bottles of locally produced cooking oil fetch around K13 while imported ones are about K8.