Tariff commission for reducing palm oil price by Tk12 a litre

The Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) has recommended a reduction in the price of palm oil by Tk 12 per litre and sugar by Tk 6 per kg. The agency is also in favour of keeping the existing price of soybean oil unchanged.

there is an opportunity to somewhat reduce the profit that the companies are currently making, BTTC said in a report submitted to the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

In the report, extending the time to review rod and cement prices was recommended. The agency also suggested that the prices of agricultural products as determined by the Directorate of Agriculture Marketing may be implemented as the rational price of these commodities.

The Ministry of Commerce decided on August 30 that the prices of rice, atta, flour, soybean oil, palm oil, sugar, lentils, MS rod, and cement will be fixed. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi announced that BTTC will sit with importers and traders to determine the prices of these products every month and that this decision would be implemented within 15 days of the announcement. The aforementioned BTTC report was derived as a result.

The report recommended that the last fixed soybean oil price effective from August 23 be kept unchanged. Meanwhile, the price of palm oil can be reduced from Tk 145 per litre to Tk 133. A Tk 6 reduction per kg of sugar was also recommended.

However, BTTC has said that it is incapable of fixing the price rice, and that Ministry of Food and Agriculture may take up the main responsibility in this case.

Besides, BTTC has asked for an extension of 15 days to make
recommendations in case of lentils, atta and flour, and a month in case of rod and cement, Ministry of Commerce sources said.