Tariff commission to sit soon for readjusting edible oil price: Tipu Munshi

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said on Thursday that Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission will soon decide whether the proposal of the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners & Vanaspati Manufacturers Association to increase edible oil price by Tk 20 a litre is justified or not.

“Price of edible oil has come down in the global market. But the Dollar rate is high in our country and for this reason, we are not getting the benefit which we were supposed to get due to the fall in oil price. However, the Tariff Commission will examine the matter,” he said.

Tipu Munshi made the comment after attending the cabinet meeting at the secretariat.

Replying to a question, the Minister said that it’s not the Commerce Ministry’s job to monitor the price hike of essentials by traders following the fuel price hike.

“Fuel prices have been raised after adjusting with prices in the neighbouring countries. If the current diesel price is taken into consideration, it’ll be found that the government is still incurring a loss of Tk 8 per litre,” said the Minister.

The association proposed increasing edible oil prices in line with the rapid increase in dollar price.

If the association’s demands are met, the price of edible oil will increase from Tk 185 to Tk 205 per litre, while the price of non-bottled Soybean oil will shoot up to Tk 180 from Tk 166 a litre and a five-litre bottle will be sold for Tk 960, up Tk 50 than the current rate.