KARIMNAGAR: Owing to the closure of rice mills, edible oil companies in the district are struggling to procure rice bran from mills. There is a daily requirement of 200 tonnes of rice bran. In absence of local supply, traders are procuring rice bran from Maharashtra and other States. With the rise in prices of groundnut oil and others, people are shifting to rice bran oil.
However, owing to the shortage of rice bran, the oil production has slowed down, and it will soon result in a price hike of rice bran oil, said a representative of a private oil manufacturing company. Some people are also moving to unrefined oil as local cottage industries are making headway in marketing and quality standards.