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The Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) on June 6,
2022 advised the Ministry of Commerce to review the prices of edible oil in the
local market. Because the price of the product is falling worldwide.
The Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vegetable
Manufacturers Association sent a letter to the Commerce Ministry last week.
They have demanded further increase in prices. The reason is that crude edible
oil, which has been booked at low prices by local processors, has not yet
entered the country.
The BTTC recommended reducing the local retail price of palm
oil as international rates for the product are on a downward trend, according
to Tapan Kanti Ghosh, senior secretary of the commerce ministry.
Palm oil imports are rising as Indonesia, the world's
largest supplier of the key cooking ingredient, recently withdrew its export
ban on the product and is now supplying it at lower rates.
And although Ghosh declined to elaborate on the soybean oil
situation, he said the product was included in the BTTC's recommendations.
"We will review the prices of edible oil soon," he
added.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi had hinted last week that
edible oil prices may come down in local markets as international prices of the
product were declining.
However, a source at the BTTC said that since soybean oil
prices have not fallen to the expected level in international markets, it may
not be possible to reduce local retail prices in the upcoming review.
Last month, the average price of bottled edible oil was
increased by Tk 38 to Tk 198 per litre from Tk 160 per litre in April following
the price hike of cooking oil in international markets.
The price was hiked despite a host of remedial measures
taken by the government, such as reducing value added tax to 5 per cent from 15
per cent in March.
The latest price of soybean oil was hiked considering the
base price of crude soybean oil, which stands at $1,790 per tonne for local
importers and refiners due to the government benefits afforded to them as
producers of an essential commodity.
The base price of crude soybean oil did not come under
$1,800 per tonne even though the product's price has been showing a downward
trend in international markets, the BTTC official said on condition of anonymity.
As such, it might not be possible to decrease the price of
soybean oil in local markets through a review.
The price of edible oil recently witnessed abnormal
increases in the domestic market following the rise in international prices of
cooking oil and Indonesia's export ban on palm oil.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, Bangladesh needs
about 20 lakh tons of edible oil every year and the demand increases during Ramadan
from 2.5 to 3 lakh tons.
Only 2.03 lakh tonnes of products are available from local
production and the rest is met through imports. The total import of edible oil
in the country is about 5 lakh tons of crude soybean oil.
Meanwhile, about 24 lakh tonnes of soybean seeds were
imported and about 4 lakh tonnes of edible oil was produced, the data shows.
Similarly, Bangladesh imports 11 lakh tons of crude palm oil, about 85 percent
of which comes from Indonesia.
|Source: Online/SZK
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