Kenyan cooking oil manufacturer Pwani Oil Products Limited has announced that it is temporarily suspending operations at its refinery in Kilifi.

The company’s commercial director Rajul Malde issued a statement citing several reasons including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the suspension of exports of crucial commodities like palm oil by global suppliers 

“The global supply chains have been severely impacted by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine,” Pwani Oil said.

“In addition, some countries like Indonesia have suspended exports of crucial commodities like palm oil.”

According to Malde, manufacturers in Kenya have not been spared the aftershocks of this unprecedented disruption, coming in the wake of the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic.

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Malde added that accessing the dollar to pay for imports of raw materials has also posed a challenge to Pwani Oil.

“Locally, the situation has been compounded by challenges faced by manufacturers in accessing US dollars used in paying for imports of crucial raw materials,” the statement read.

“Given the prevailing challenges, Pwani Oil has temporarily halted operations at it's refinery in Kilifi as we work to resolve the problem.”

This announcement comes when the prices of oil products in the country have skyrocketed with a litre of cooking oil retailing for over Sh300.

However, the Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge recently denounced claims that there was a dollar shortage.

Njoroge said the demand for dollars hiked about two months ago but has since normalised.