The Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) will monitor the edible oil market with a view to ensuring that such oils are sold at the new rate fixed by the government recently.
The decision came at the 3rd meeting of the Taskforce Committee on essential items, held at the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday with senior secretary of the ministry, Tapan Kanti Ghosh, in the chair.
The monitoring team of the state-run agency is expected to start operation from today (Wednesday). It will take stringent actions against the price manipulator in case of violation of the edible oil prices set by government, a senior official said.
On July 17 last, the government has reduced the maximum retail price (MRP) of bottled edible oil by Tk 14 to Tk 185 per litre after making required analyses and consulting with edible oil refiners.
It has also reduced the MRP of a jar containing five litres of soybean oil by Tk 70 to Tk 910, while the price of super palm oil is also expected to come down by Tk 06 to Tk 152 a litre following the government's step.
The meeting has also discussed taking necessary steps again to adjust the edible oil prices if prices of such oil declines further in the global market.
Necessary initiative will be taken to increase the supply of sunflower, olive and canola oils in the market for diversifying the domestic cooking oil market to help dilute dependence on the widely-consumed soybean and palm oils.
In this regard, the committee will ask the authorities concerned to take steps to implement the move.
Reduced prices of the widely-consumed edible oils came into force on Monday last in the local market.
The new rates will take two to three days to be effective at the retail level, a source concerned said.
However, there was hardly any impact of the price cut on the majority of the retail outlets or grocers.
Members of the Taskforce, representatives from different edible oil associations, including the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association, and trade bodies attended the meeting.
