Refiners propose edible oil price hikes by Tk20/ltr

Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Banaspati Manufacturers Association proposed to increase the price of soybean oil by Tk20 per liter.

The edible oil price, however, dropped in the international market. The organization gave this proposal to the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) on August 3.

It proposed to increase the price of open soybean oil to Tk180 per liter and bottled oil to Tk205 per liter and to Tk960 for a five-liter bottle.

Bottled soybean oil was sold at the highest price of Tk205 per liter this year, which has recently been reduced by Tk20 by oil companies. The price was reduced by Tk14 per liter last on July 21.

The oil refiners said in their proposal the import price of edible oil went up as the US dollar rose sharply against the taka. Due to this, price adjustment is essential. The association has also provided a breakdown of the costs along with the proposal.

Shafiul Athar Taslim, Director of TK Group, a leading company in refining and marketing of edible oil, said: “We have made a new proposal recently as the cost of imports has increased.”

Now the government, considering everything, may increase the price. If there is an opportunity to decrease the price it can also do that, he said.

Shafiul Athhar also said, “The price should be reviewed every 15 days. We want the meeting to continue.”

Refiners’ companies present the proposals to the Tariff Commission to increase the price of edible oil. Then the commission reviews it and the price of oil is fixed accordingly.

The Meghna Group, The City Group, TK Group, S Alam Group, Bashundhara Group and Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited import crude edible oil and market it after refining. Some of them import soybean seeds to produce oil.

According to the World Bank, the price of soybean oil in the world market in 2020 was an average of 838 dollars per tonne, which rose to a maximum of 1, 963 dollars last May.

Prices have been falling since then. Last July, the price of per tonne oil fell to 1,533 dollars. The Tariff Commission prepared a daily report on the commodity price situation on the basis of the Reuters news agency. According to the report, soybean oil prices were 31 percent lower on July 31 than on May 23.

According to the Government Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data, soybean oil prices are 26-32 per cent higher than this time last year despite the reduction of TK20 per litre.