News Desk :
The government has approved a fresh hike in the prices of soybean and palm oil by Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners & Vanaspati Manufacturers Association on grounds of increase in the global market.
The association, BVOVMA, fixed bottled soybean oil at Tk 198 per litre while loose soybean oil at Tk 180 per litre, effective from Friday.
It means bottled soybean oil price increases by Tk 38 per litre and loose soybean oil price up by Tk 44 per litre.
The five litre container of soybean oil will be sold at Tk 995, which was earlier sold at Tk 760. The refined palm oil loose will be sold at Tk 172 per litre from Friday.
The Ministry of Commerce on Thursday approved the rate of edible oil submitted by the BVOVMA before the Eid holiday.
The edible oil supply in the domestic market will be normal within a few days as huge quantity of imported edible oil has arrived at the Chittagong port from Singapore and Indonesia. Mill owners have raised cooking oil prices by as much as 32 percent after consulting the government following a shortage during Eid-ul-Fitr.
According to Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), around 22.9 million litres of soybean oil has arrived at Chittagong port and 13,000 tons of palm oil tankers will arrive at the port on Friday.
It is learned that a ship named ‘MV Orient Challenge’ carrying 22 million litres of crude soybean oil from Singapore arrived at Chittagong port on April 26. On the other hand, the 13,000 tonne palm oil carrier ‘MT Sumatra Palm’ is scheduled to arrive at Chittagong port on Friday (May 6). The Indonesian-flagged ship sailed from the Indonesian port of Lubuk Geang on April 26, the Marine Traffic has provided this information on its own website.
Bottled soybean oil will now cost Tk 198 a litre, up from Tk 160, Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association said in a notice on Thursday, reports bdnews24.com
The price of five-litre bottles of soybean oil has been fixed at Tk 985. Unpacked soybean oil has been raised by Tk 40 to Tk 180 per litre.
The mill owners raised the price of palm super oil by Tk 42 to Tk 172 a litre.The continuing woes for consumers over the lack of availability of cooking oil deepened as retail stores in Dhaka and the rest of the country were reportedly out of stock two days before Eid, which was celebrated on Tuesday. The shortage persisted on Thursday.
Although the companies running the mills imported 20 million litres of soybean oil before Eid, they said the newly arrived consignment cost them more than usual due to a hike in prices on the international market. Therefore, they needed time to consult the government before fixing new prices.
Some grocers have complained dealers refused to sell soybean and palm oil in bulk amid a global shortage caused by the Russia-Ukraine war that prompted many countries like Indonesia to halt export of cooking oil after domestic prices shot up.
As a result, the retailers cannot sell the favourite cooking oil to the customers who, out of desperation, have been buying mustard oil, sunflower oil and rice bran oil instead.
Though the government has already waived the value-added tax on imports of cooking oil to rein in prices, the retailers alleged they were forced to buy from dealers at a higher rate.
CPA Secretary Umar Farooq told reporters that a ship arrived at Chittagong Port from Singapore last Thursday carrying oil.
The country’s top four companies City Group, Sena Kalyan Edible Oil, Bangladesh Edible Oil and Bashundhara Group have imported the oil. The process of unloading imported oil has already begun, he said.
On the other hand, Kazi Abu Naeem, general manager of Mohammadi Trading Company Limited, the local agent of the Indonesian ship in Bangladesh, said that the MV Sumatra Palm ship will arrive in Chittagong port on Friday.
Indonesia is the world’s top exporter of palm oil. About 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s required palm oil is usually imported from Indonesia. The country (Indonesia) has banned palm oil exports since midnight on April 28.
According to Chittagong Customs, the country’s top importers brought about 120,000 tonnes of palm oil in April before the Indonesian government’s ban on palm oil export. Bangladesh imports about 1.3 million tonnes of palm oil annually. 90 per cent of these are imported from Indonesia. The remaining 10 per cent comes from Malaysia.
