The government Sunday gave the seal of approval on the already-hiked prices of edible oils, one and a half weeks after the raise given by the refiners on their own.
Officials of commerce ministry said the ministry fixed maximum retail prices (MRP) of soybean oil at Tk 168 a litre, five-litre jar Tk 795, loose palm oil Tk 134 and loose soybean oil Tk 143 a litre.
But, according to the city grocers, the refiners from the third week of January had raised prices of soybean oil to Tk 163-168 a litre as per their previous proposal in apparent defiance of government consent.
The ministry, after a meeting on January 19, told the refiners to review edible-oil prices from February 06 when the next meeting was scheduled.
But the grocers in the city started selling soybean oil at Tk 163-168 a litre from January 26-27 last after getting bottles, jars or poly-packs with new MRP, said Juel Rana, a grocer at West Dhanmondi.
The previous MRP of soybean oil was Tk 160 a litre fixed in October last year by the government.
However, loose soybean-and palm-oil prices were already much higher in the city retails than the government-set latest price, fixed on Sunday, as loose soybean was selling at Tk 150-155 against government rate of Tk 143.
Palm-oil MRP has already been raised to Tk 136-140 a litre against the latest government-fixed MRP of Tk 134 a litre, according to city groceries in different places.
Biswajit Saha, director of a leading refiner, 'City Group', said the government fixed the price on Sunday after reviewing their proposals of January last.
"We are requesting the government to review the three- tire VAT realisation in the edible oil 'value chain' which could help reduce prices by a good margin at the retail level," he says.
According to the global trading web portals, soybean-oil price was maximum US$ 1447 a tonne in February 2022 which was maximum $1120 a tonne in February 2021.
After hitting an eleven-year high of $1570 a tonne in October 2021, soybean-oil price showed a decline from November to January period but again began taking an upturn this month, according to Index Mundi.
However, palm-oil price which was maximum $1000 a tonne in February 2021 increased to $1300-$ 1350 a tonne in February 2022.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan suggests the government should strictly monitor the volatile edible- oil market as income of a vast population has declined while prices increased to decade highs.
"Any kind of VAT or tax should be removed from import-dependent edible oils following the rocketing surge in prices of such essentials in recent times," he says.
And as the month of Ramadan is also approaching, the market vigilance should also be increased manifold by the government to tackle further price hike in the market, he adds.
According to the commerce ministry, the country has a demand for 2.0-2.2 million tonnes of edible oils annually, of which above 95 per cent is met through import.
Out of the imported oils, palm oil comprises 60 per cent and soybean oil 35 per cent.
