Staff Report Islamabad
The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) will resume its enquiry in the cooking oil and ghee sector after the honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan admitted for hearing its leave to appeal against, and suspended, the decision of the honorable Islamabad High Court dated 14 September 2021.
On 30 July 2020, the CCP, taking notice of an unexplained increase in the retail prices of vegetable oil and ghee, and initiated an enquiry under Section 37 (1) of the Competition Act, 2010 to ascertain prima facie violations of Section 3 and/or Section 4 of the Act in the edible oil and ghee industry.
The increase in ghee/cooking oil prices was unusual as palm oil prices, the primary raw material in its manufacturing, witnessed a downward trend internationally during January – May 2020.
The enquiry team sought information and relevant data from the industry players. Upon non-cooperation from some companies in sharing the data, the Commission passed a ‘Call for Information’ order under Section 36 of the Act in November 2020.
However, one of the companies i.e., Dalda Foods, obtained a stay order from the honorable Islamabad High Court against the Section 36 order for providing information to the Commission on 18 November 2020.
