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The government has decided to further increase prices of edible oils following recommendations of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, due to high prices in the international market.
According to the new decision, 1-litre bottle of soybean oil will now cost Tk 153, up from Tk 149; and 5-litre soybean oil jar will cost Tk 728, up from Tk 712.
Meanwhile, per litre of loose soybean oil will cost Tk 129, up from Tk 125; and palm oil per litre will cost Tk 116, according to the commerce ministry.
The decision came after the government held a meeting with the leaders of Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners & Vanaspati Manufacturers Association at the Ministry of Commerce on Sunday.
Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh presided over the meeting.
Earlier on May 29, the government approved increasing soybean oil prices by Tk 9 per litre, which took 1-litre bottle to Tk 153, 5-liter bottle to Tk 728 and loose soybean oil to Tk 129.
However, considering Eid-ul Adha, the refiners raised prices by Tk 4 for per litre following a request from the commerce ministry. At that time, the ministry said that the price will be reviewed after Eid.
In late July, the edible oil importers urged the government to reform its prices due to higher prices in the international market.
After being tasked by commerce ministry to analyse the domestic and international market, the Tariff Commission recommended that the government may allow increasing its price considering the international market.
However, the edible oil importers said that in the international market, price of per litre of soybean oil rose by 160 per cent from last year. On the other hand, they have increased their price by only 25-40 per cent in the same period.
The country has around 21 lakh tonnes of edible oil annually and around 90 per cent meet through import. Most of the soybean oil imported from Brazil and Argentina, palm oil came from Malaysia and Indonesia.
