Three days after the government had jacked up prices over again, grocery stores in Dhaka and other parts of the country were still running out of soybean and palm oils on Saturday.
Consumers are in dire straits due to the acute edible oil crisis, especially those who have returned to Dhaka after Eid holidaying by facing severe supply shortages critics blame on oligopolies.
Many people were found buying more expensive mustard and sunflower oils amid lack of soybean oil on the market.
Dealers say new supply orders (SOs) will be issued by the refiners with the reopening of banks on Sunday and then they could avail oil from the company depots.
Visiting several markets in the city on Saturday it was found that most of the shops in the capital didn't have soybean oils.
Shopkeepers say dealers were yet to take oil orders.
Kader Ali, a grocer at Mohammadpur Town Hall in the city, said he did not get oils he had ordered 15 days before Eid.
"Dealers might take new orders from Monday. We have no soybean oil to sell before then," he said.
In the city's Kathalbagan area, a few shops had one-liter old poly pack of soybean oil, which is being sold at Tk 195 to Tk 200 even though it has a Tk 159 tag. Bottles of half-liter soybean oil from some companies were also found in few shops at Karwan Bazar, selling at Tk 100.
Soybean oil at a couple of shops in Rampura's Bou Bazar area was selling at Tk 200 to Tk 210 per liter and palm oil at Tk 190 per liter.
Meanwhile, last Thursday the government set a new price for already-pricey edible oils. The price of 1 liter of soybean oil has been increased by Tk 38 to Tk 198.
Loose soybean oil was priced at Tk 180 per liter, up from Tk 143 earlier. At the same time, the loose palm oil was fixed at Tk 172, which was Tk 133 earlier.
Edible-oil market started becoming volatile 10 days before the Eid-ul-Fitr festival and went out of control two days before Eid, in what is seen as traders' ploy to cash in on a high demand.
The price of loose soybean oil reached Tk 220 per liter while loose palm sold for Tk 190-200 a litre. The groceries ran out of edible oils during the Eid days.
SM Nazer Hossain, vice-president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said the oil market went out of control due to "manipulation by unscrupulous dealers, non-cooperation of refiners and lack of government surveillance."
In March, the government fixed the price of bottled soybean oil at Tk 160, loose soybean Tk 143 and loose palm oil Tk 133.
"The government couldn't implement the price. Some big refiners and traders were responsible for it but no action was taken against anyone", said MR Hossain.
"Anyway, the government has to take tough steps to bring the market under control," he adds.
Subsidised sales of edible oils and other food products should be expanded vastly so that poor people can buy and consume oil, he suggests.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, major refiners in Bangladesh imported about 2.2 million tonnes of soybean and palm oils (crude) in the last one year.
Along with this, soybean seeds were extracted locally and 0.4 million tonnes of oil was collected.
The country also produced about 0.1 million tonnes of mustard oil and imported 20,000 tonnes of other oils.
Bangladesh had a supply of about 2.72 million tonnes of oil against a total demand for 2.4 million tonnes during the period. But even then, the volatile oil market has raised questions among concerned market analysts.
Abul Hashem, general secretary of the Wholesale Edible Oil Traders Association, said it was not possible to issue a new supply order (SO) until the bank opens on Sunday (today).
He hopes that the shops will get new-priced oil in the next two to three days.
He said, "The government should also take steps to ensure that refiners supply oil to traders on time and without delay."
Biswajit Saha, director of City Group, has an explanation of the market overheating. He said the price of soybean oil on the world market had risen to about US $ 2000 per tonne.
"In such condition, price review was unavoidable."
This new pricing will encourage refiners to import more oil. He expressed the hope that the oil with new price tag would reach the market in no time.
