Resumption of Emerald Oil's production delayed

The resumption of production of Emerald Oil Industries Ltd, one of the early entrants in the domestic rice bran oil market, is not going to begin from September 1 this year.

The company is going to take more days to restart the operation of its factory, which went out of production in 2017, meaning that investors will have to wait to get dividend from the stock.

The rice bran oil maker shares fell 0.91 per cent to Tk 32.80 at the DSE today.

The company, on July 12, announced the decision of its regulator-appointed board that it would go into full-fledged commercial operation from first September to produce 48 tonnes of rice bran oil and 282 tonnes of De oiled Rice bran (DORB).

Today, the company said it could not renew or obtain most of the required licenses till date as all offices were closed from July 23 to August 10, 2021 due to strict lockdown imposed by the government to curb spread of the coronavirus disease.

As a result, it could not complete rescheduling of loans with bank and non-bank financial institutions and transfer shares to Minori Bangladesh Ltd, which wants to take over 31 per cent stakes of the Emerald Oil from the existing sponsors.

"We do not want to go to production without solving legal issues," said Emerald Oil's Managing Director Md Afzal Hossain.

The rice bran oil maker, in its posting to the DSE, said it would require more time to resolve the issues citing the decision of the board not to start commercial operation.