Edible oil price cut by Tk 8 per litre

The government has reduced the price of bottled soybean oil Tk 8 per litre while the price of loose soybean oil has been reduced by Tk 7 per litre.

With this fresh decision, one litre bottled soybean oil will cost Tk 160.

The new prices were fixed in a meeting with the mill and refinery owners at the Ministry of Commerce on Sunday, said Ministry’s Senior Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh at a press conference.

One litre bottled soybean oil will be Tk 160 and five litre Tk 760, while the price of loose soybean oil has been fixed at Tk 136 per litre, the commerce secretary said.

The new prices will be effective at mill gate from Monday and it would take another 5-6 days to be effective in the retail market, he added.

Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association also confirmed the matter.

However, the price of palm oil was not fixed yet, said Tapan Kanti, adding that the price of palm oil will be fixed in a meeting with the mill owners on March 22.

Earlier, the government fixed the price of bottled soybean oil at Tk 168 per litre and five-litre bottle at Tk 795. The price of loose soybean oil was set at Tk 143 per litre.

However, consumers alleged that the government fixed rational prices for edible oils, but the customers could not buy them at the fixed price from the market.

In the past several weeks, bottled soybeans, loose soybeans and palm oil were sold at around Tk 17-30 higher rate per litre compared to the prices fixed by the government due to the crisis in the global market. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the withdrawal of VAT on edible oils, aiming to bring down the abnormal prices. On March 14, the National Board of Revenue withdrew the VAT on edible oil production and business level and on March 16, reduced the VAT on import level to 5 per cent.

Even after that measure was taken, bottled soybean oil was sold in the market at the government fixed price but non-bottled oil was sold at a higher price.