If you have recently purchased cooking oil, you will probably find out that it has increased.

In a local kiosk, a liter goes for 300 Kenyan shillings. Last few weeks, it was only 240 shillings.

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However, costs of crude palm oil have hiked by 33 per cent due to ongoing Ukrainian war. The prices have been going up every day.

Manufacturers of cooking oil are now purchasing palm oil, the main raw material at between $1760 (Sh200,534) per metric tonne and $1980 (Sh225,522) after the Ukraine-Russia conflictes began.

Prior to the conflict, the commodity retailed at $1490 (Sh168,578) per tonne, having more than doubled from $700 per tonne before the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 according to Nation television.

“Locally, Covid-related factors had already caused a jump in the price of a 20-litre Jerrycan from Sh2,200 to Sh4,500 in under two years. After the invasion, the price shot up to Sh5,100 in under a week,” said edible oils subsector chairman, Abdulghani Alwojih.

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“This rise is set to have an upward ripple effect in the prices of basic commodities and food businesses.”