Home ›› 07 Jan 2022 ›› Front
The commerce ministry on Thursday rejected a proposal from the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association, which sought to hike edible oil prices by Tk 8 – Tk 10 yet again.
After a tripartite meeting held at the ministry, the government decided to continue selling the kitchen essential at previously fixed prices, Additional Secretary (Import and Internal Trade) AHM Safiquzzaman told the media.
“The refiners’ proposal to increase the edible oil prices will not be implemented in the market, and current prices will remain in effect until the integrated and uniform pricing system is finalised,” he added.
Representatives from the TK Group, Citi Group, S Alam Group, Meghna Group, Bangladesh Edible Oil, Foreign Exchange Policy Division of the Bangladesh Bank and National Board of Revenue (VAT Detective and Inspection) attended the Thursday’s meeting.
Besides, representatives from the Marketing Department of the University of Dhaka and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) also participated in the discussion on fixing edible oil prices.
Currently, the retail price of bottled soybean oil is Tk 160 per litre. Refiners recently proposed to hike the retail price to Tk 168 per litre, distributor price to Tk 162, and mill gate price to Tk 158.
The refiners also proposed an increase in the price of loose soybean by Tk 9 per litre and loose palm oil by Tk 10 per litre. The proposal set the retail price of loose soybean oil to Tk 145 per litre, mill gate price to Tk 142, and distributor price to Tk 143.
Besides, per litre palm oil retail price was proposed at Tk 129, mill gate price at Tk 126 and distributor price at Tk 127.
According to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the prices of various types of edible oils have gone up by 24 to 36 per cent within just a year. In the capital’s markets on Thursday, loose soybean oil was sold at Tk 140 to Tk 145 per litre, palm oil at Tk 130 to Tk 140.
The Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission data says the country consumes about 2 million tonnes of edible oil annually, and imports meet nearly 90 per cent of this demand.
The association has been trying to raise edible oil prices for months, citing increasing prices in the international market as the reason. They even tried to raise prices multiple times in a single month.
As their reason for proposing the most recent price hike, edible oil refiners claimed that they are losing money, but the government is not interested in raising the prices again at this time.
So, the association unilaterally fixed the new prices and decided that the change will take effect from January 8. They then wrote to the commission about their decision last week. But at the Thursday’s meeting, the government rejected the refiners’ price hike proposal.
An analysis of the global prices shows that the refiners want to further increase soybean and palm oil prices in Bangladesh even though it has gone down in the international market.
According to USA Department of Agriculture, soybean oil price decreased globally by around $290 per tonne in the last six months.
In May and June last year, soybean oil was sold at $1,560 to $1,570 per tonne, but it has now dropped to $1,270 to $1,280. The price of palm oil has also dropped by $200 to $1150 per tonne compared to November 2021.
