Two local traders were fined a total of Tk 1.5 lakh for hoarding soybean oil to sell at inflated prices at NagerBazar in the district town.
Two mobile courts, led by two executive magistrates, Mohammad Mozaherul Haque and Rohan Sarkar, carried out separate drives and imposed a fine of Tk one lakh on Sridham Saha and Tk 50,000 on Shankar Pal for attempting to create an artificial crisis of soybean oil by hoarding the same.
Per litre of bottled soybean oil is currently available at Tk 168 in Bangladesh.
In January, the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (BVORVMA) proposed to the Commerce Ministry to increase the maximum retail price of edible oil by Tk 8 to Tk 168 per litre.
The prices of daily essentials have already gone up in Bangladesh. Besides, the soaring price of edible oil is intensifying the woes of the lower-middle-income group.
