Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe Jr., on Monday, October 30, 2023, claimed in a video shared on social media that vegetable oil is most expensive in Liberia than its neighboring countries.
The Claim
Mr. Snowe’s exact words were: “Today, basic vegetable oil is more expensive in Liberia than our [Liberia] neighboring countries.”
Senator Snowe was speaking about the proposed Bill from the Executive to grant Fouani Brothers new investment privileges. Members of the Liberian Senate Committees on Judiciary and Concession, on Monday, October 30, 2023, held a debate with officials of the Ministry of Commerce and the National Investment Commission to grant a $30 million incentive agreement to Fouani Brothers Inc. for the development of a palm oil refinery in the country.
Section 11 of the agreement specifies that in the event of insufficient locally made crude palm oil to meet the refinery’s requirements, the investor can import the necessary crude palm oil on duty free.
Monday’s debate was mainly centered on this section as the point of contention as a member of the committees, including the Bomi County Senator, called on the executive branch to withdraw the deal, describing it as detrimental to the economy.
Rating Justification
Local Voices Liberia Fact Checking Desk gathered the prices of the commodity in neighboring countries and established that the claim made by Senator Edwin Snowe that vegetable oil is more expensive in Liberia than neighboring countries is mostly correct.
In Liberia, an ECommerce Company, EZee Market put the price of a three-gallon vegetable oil is US$23. this means a gallon of the cooking oil is US$7.66 and a litter is US$2.02.
According to a Malaysian Vegetable Oil Suppliers & Exporters, 10 litters or 2.6 gallons of the cooking oil is sold in Ivory Coast for US$11.02, in Guinea for US$11.73 and in Sierra Leone for $11.02
After calculating the various prices in these countries in gallon and convert to litter, we realize that a litter of cooking oil is sold in Liberia for US$2.02, in Ivory Coast for US$0.90 cents while it is sold in Guinea for US$0.85 cents and US$0.90 cents in Sierra Leone.
Conclusion
Based on these selling prices in the countries mentioned, we conclude that the claim made by Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe that a basic vegetable oil is more expensive in Liberia than neighboring countries is mostly correct.
Our research established that a litter of the commodity is sold in Liberia for $2.02, in Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone for 90 cents respectively while it is sold in Guinea for 85 cents.
This report was developed with the support of Internews through the USAID Media Activity project. The funder has no say in the editorial decision leading to the production of this content.
