33M Litres Cooking Oil Available In Thailand In 15 Days

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COOKING OIL

33m litres to be available in 15 days

By Piyanart Srivalo

The Nation

Govt to spend Bt214 million on subsidies to ease current shortage

The National Oil Palm Policy Committee confirmed yesterday that 33 million litres of cooking palm oil would enter the market within 15 days and the government would make a total subsidy allocation of Bt214 million to the Energy Ministry and producers of cooking palm oil.

The committee is also committed to distribute cooking palm oil to the market within three days. Consumers can purchase as much as they want.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said: "The committee should have a final solution to ease the serious palm-oil shortage as fast as it can. Moreover, the measures should concentrate on transparency." Abhisit said the inspection of the warehouses of producers would have to be worked on.

The prime minister added that the committee would focus more on import quota management, which he has delegated to Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.

"It may need some subsidy but the total cost should not exceed Bt1 billion," he said.

The solution was agreed on after the Democrat and Bhum Jai Thai parties reached a compromise yesterday, with Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai (Bhum Jai Thai) and Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul to be the two ministers appointed to the committee.

Porntiva, who has ordered the price of cooking palm oil to be controlled at Bt47 per litre bottle, proposed on Monday for an export ban and liberalisation of imports for three months.

After the four-hour meeting yesterday, Suthep said the committee agreed on three urgent measures to solve the palm-oil crisis:

First, the concerned ministry will directly purchase fresh palm-oil lots (at the oil yield of 17-18 per cent) at the guaranteed price of Bt7 per kilogram. The quantity to be purchased in this period is set at 10,000 tonnes of crude palm oil. The government will start this measure today and will also send an official to inspect the purchase practice.

The government has to subsidise palm-oil crushing mills at Bt9.5 per litre to ensure the price of refined oil will be no higher than Bt44 per litre.

quota unchanged

Second, the Energy Ministry will release from its stock 5,000 tonnes of palm oil that has been stored for producing biodiesel, to refine it for cooking oil. The committee will subsidise the ministry at Bt9.5 per litre.

Third, the controversial import quota of 120,000 tonnes of crude palm oil from Malaysia remains unchanged. However, the committee agreed to divide the import into small lots. The first lot approved was 30,000 tonnes, which can produce 22 million litres of refined oil.

The Public Warehouse Organisation, which is the Commerce Ministry's marketing arm, will handle all import-quota management. The organisation will allocate the imported oil to 10 producers to pack the product and distribute it in the market quickly.

Suthep pointed out that those producers and traders would also get a subsidy of Bt5 per litre. The strategy is to ensure that consumers are able to purchase cooking palm oil at Bt47 per litre bottle.

The total subsidy is estimated to reach Bt214 million.

Suthep said the committee would hold its next meeting on March 8 to consider the situation. The remaining import quota will also be considered, depending on supply and demand.

In addition, the Department of Special Investigation will today submit its report after inspection of 10 producers of cooking palm oil.

-- The Nation 2011-02-23

[powderpuff]

As blatant a payoff to cronies as I have ever seen.

Ferndinand Marcos & Suharto would be proud. Way to empty the Treausry guys!!!!!!

[powderpuff]

Of course there is no soybean oil in the market either. 47 baht a bottle !!!!1 Are you kidding me? Since when did the baht become worthless? I'm stocking up on gold bullion.

[Pib]

Another subsidy. And I saw in another Nation article that the govt just extended the free bus/train rides and electricity subsidy thru 30 June...and of course we got the ongoing subsidy for diesel full....I've lost track of all the subsidies. Maybe Thailand should start calling itself the Hub for Subsidies. Takes a lot of money to buy votes for the next election.

[asiawatcher]

Good time to get the country off cooking with oil - any oil - particularly Soi, is lethal. Any unsaturated oils become saturated the second they are heated. Cholesterol city - assured death.

[ginjag]

Another subsidy. And I saw in another Nation article that the govt just extended the free bus/train rides and electricity subsidy thru 30 June...and of course we got the ongoing subsidy for diesel full....I've lost track of all the subsidies. Maybe Thailand should start calling itself the Hub for Subsidies. Takes a lot of money to buy votes for the next election.

This is SICK and sad for Thai people, 15 days, money into pockets of wealthy snobs, if the police escorted the oil for distribution as fast as they escort these armoles in traffic we would have oil in the shops in ..1 day

[Thai at Heart]

This really is starting to stink to high heaven.

[saengsureeya]

And what is 33m litres of cooking oil on a 66m population.

That's an average of 0.5 liter per head.

In a country where there is no life without cooking oil, it's like a drip of oil on a hot plate.

[jonclark]

And what is 33m litres of cooking oil on a 66m population.

That's an average of 0.5 liter per head.

In a country where there is no life without cooking oil, it's like a drip of oil on a hot plate.

I have been one of the many complaining about the high cost of palm oil. But for others who share the planet with us the cost is far higher. If you have a spare half hour watch the following film and consider whether our demands for cheap oil are really worth the price

http://www.greenthefilm.com/

[Pib]

Was in a Bangkok Makro this morning when they put a pallet load of palm oil on the floor. Before Makro had been limiting customers to 1 to 3 bottles (the few times they had any)....last week when I was there it was two bottles per customer and the between the wife and I we bought 4 bottles..the wife and I showed up just at the right time...the shelves got emptied within must a few minutes.

But today, there was no limit and most people bought any where from 2 to 5 cases (12 bottles per case); unfortunately this pallet of palm oil didn't last long with no limit on the number of bottles. Lots of people who came over to the area just a few minutes after the pallet was brought out were PO'ed all the oil was gone...they didn't seem too happy no limit per customer was in place due to the ongoing shortage. And as I was checking out, the cashiers were ringing up the purchases...even if they had cases of the palm oil...and as mentioned most everyone had 2 to 5 cases.

I happened to go to Lotus right after Makro and Lotus didn't have any palm oil; only a few dozen bottles high price foreign brands of canola and bran oil. Even with the govt appearing to finally be getting serious about fixing the shortage, a definite shortage still exist...it will probably continue at least another month.

Edited February 23, 2011 by Pib