The recent export ban of edible oil announced by Indonesia, the world’s biggest supplier of vegetable oil, has created wide-ranging problems for the consumers, especially for the common people in every strata of Bangladesh, says a report published in a national daily. Having anticipated such a ban, suppliers and wholesalers in some big markets here and there in the country have increased prices of the edible oils taking advantage of the situation, the report added.
Under the changed situation due to supply crunch, oil markets have become more volatile and the wholesale prices of palm oil rose by Tk 150 per maund overnight to Tk 6,250 at Khatunganj, country’s largest wholesale market. Side by side, TCB’s data shows, prices of loose palm oil stood at Tk 145-Tk 148 per litre at the retail market. But the actual price has gone up from Tk 142-Tk 145 stood a week ago and the retail prices of non-bottled and bottled soybean and palm oil have gone up by Tk 10-15 per litre overnight resulting from sudden supply crunch.
But an Additional Secretary of the Commerce Ministry termed the edible oil crisis in the local market artificial saying that the country still has edible oil reserves to meet the demand for at least the next one and a half months. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) also viewed that about 8.5 lakh tonnes of palm oil and 4.06 lakh tonnes of soybean oil have been imported in the first three and a half months of the current year. Traders alleged that the refiner companies and dealers manipulated the supply of the essential product at this time before the Eid.
In the context of the worsening crisis in this essential commodity, we expect that the relevant functionaries of the government will take up pragmatic policy directives immediately marked by a visionary package of actions to ensure a better market scenario for the commodity in question. We believe this will be done ahead of Eid for the best interest of all consumer communities across the country.
