TCB hikes soybean oil, lentil prices as truck sale begins

With the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) starting the sale of essential items through its trucks today, it has increased soybean oil and lentil prices as the prices of the two items recently went up in the market.  

The TCB said it would sell per litre bottled soybean oil at Tk 110, up from Tk 100.

Bottled soybean oil price is now Tk 160 per litre in the market, the highest ever in the country’s history.

Also, the TCB will sell per kg lentil at Tk 60, which was Tk 55 before. 

“We increased soybean oil and lentil prices as our prices were far lower than market prices and there were
possibilities of black market trade as well,” TCB Joint Director and Dhaka office Information Officer Md Humayun Kabir said. 

But TCB’s sugar and onion prices will remain unchanged and will be sold at Tk 55 per kg and Tk 30 per kg respectively.    

A consumer will be allowed to buy a maximum of 2kg sugar and lentil, two litres of soybean oil, and 2-5kg onion from the TCB trucks every day.  

The TCB sells essential commodities to low-income people at subsidised prices.

It will sell the items till November 28, excluding Fridays and government holidays, through 400-450 trucks in the capital, metropolitan areas, districts, and upazilas.

Humayun said the TCB had continued its truck sales operations as an emergency service during the coronavirus pandemic.

Each truck will have an allocation of up to 500-1,000kg onion, 400-600kg sugar, 300-600kg lentil, and 400-600 litres of soybean oil.

On October 19, the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association raised the price of soybean oil by Tk 7 per litre and palm oil by Tk 3 per litre.

Besides, per litre non-bottled soybean oil is sold at Tk 136, five-litre bottled soybean oil at Tk 760, and per litre palm oil at Tk 118 in the market at present.

On September 14, the government withdrew import duties on onion and reduced that on sugar by 10 per cent to stabilise the prices of the two essential commodities in the local market.

On September 9, the government fixed new prices of packaged and non-packaged sugar for the first time.

The maximum retail price of per kg non-packaged sugar was set at Tk 74, which was Tk 80 in the market, and that of packaged sugar at Tk 75, which was Tk 85.