Home ›› 18 Oct 2021 ›› Front
The government and edible oil refiners on Sunday reached a consensus to increase the price of soybean oil by Tk7 and palm oil by Tk3 per litre, and this decision will come into effect following approval from Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.
Government officials and edible oil refiners agreed on the price hike in a meeting presided over by AHM Safiquzzaman, additional secretary to the Ministry of Commerce.
Several industry leaders and representatives from the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and National Board of Revenue were also present there.
At the meeting, stakeholders decided to set the maximum retail price (MRP) for per litre bottled soybean oil at Tk 160, loose soybean oil at Tk 136. Besides, they set the MRP for per five-litre bottled soybean oil at Tk 760 and per litre palm oil at Tk 119.
The Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Manufacturers Association and the Bangladesh Sugar Refiners Association had placed their proposals back in September, seeking to fix Tk 168 as price for per litre bottled soybean oil.
After a review, the tariff commission had set the price at Tk 162. The Bangladesh Bank – in the same month – analysed the import price of edible oil and recommended a price based on average import costs.
Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Commerce AHM Safiquzzaman said on the issue, “We discussed the cost to set the prices, and it has been submitted to the commerce minister. He will make the final decision in this regard. We will later implement the decision in the market.
“I am urging the traders not to increase the oil prices as soon as the new prices are implemented. The market already has a large stock of edible oil, so the price should not increase overnight.”
In a previous letter, the refiners’ association had proposed to fix the price of per litre bottled soybean oil at Tk 168, loose soybean oil at Tk 143 and loose palm oil at Tk 125.
However, by that time, the traders had already hiked the per litre price of loose soybean oil by Tk 11 to Tk 140, and palm oil by Tk 5 to Tk 130.
The previous price was fixed on September 5 in consultation with the Ministry of Commerce and the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission. During that period, the maximum price for per litre loose soybean oil was set at Tk 129, bottled oil at Tk 153.
Besides, the maximum price of five-litre bottled soybean oil was set at Tk 728 and per litre loose palm oil at Tk 116.
No decision on sugar price yet
On September 9, the commerce ministry set the maximum retail price of loose sugar at Tk 74 per kg and packaged sugar at Tk 75 per kg. Although the price has been set, the market shows no sign of the decision.
Despite this issue, the Bangladesh Sugar Refiners Association proposed to increase the MRP to Tk 98 for per kg packaged sugar and Tk 85 for per kg loose sugar.
On Thursday, the NBR removed 5 per cent customs duty on imports of onion and raw sugar, and reduced the regulatory duty to 20 per cent from 30 per cent. The onion market is showing the impacts of these moves, but the sugar market remains unchanged as of Sunday.
“Those who already imported sugar have paid their duty. So the tariff commission will review the price and then set a new price for sugar. This is why there has been no decision on the sugar prices yet,” AHM Safiquzzaman told the Business Post.
Safiul Athar Taslim, director of the leading edible oil marketer TK Group, said sugar and edible oil prices are rising abnormally in the global market. So, the domestic prices of these commodities need to be adjusted with the international market.”
