Prices of soybean oil and potato declined in the city markets last week bringing some relief for the consumers who are already battered with rising costs of rice, meat and fish.
However, broiler chicken prices witnessed a hike by Tk 5.0 per kilogram (kg) during the period.
This was the second time in the last two months that refiners readjusted the price of edible oil, thanks to a falling trend in the global market.
The price of bottled soybean oil declined by Tk 3.0-7.0 per litre at the city retail markets in the last seven days.
Market leader in bottled soybean oil Bangladesh Edible Oil Ltd. (BEOL) cut its one litre of 'Rupchanda' brand soybean bottle by Tk 7.0 and fixed retail price at Tk 102 a litre from January 26.
Other popular brands like Teer, Pusti, Pure and Fresh were selling at Tk 96-98 per litre on Thursday which were Tk 98-102 a litre earlier.
A bottle containing five-litre soybean oil of different brands was selling at Tk 450-480 on the day from Tk 480-510 a week back.
Loose soybean oil also witnessed a further decrease in its price last week as one litre of such oil was selling at Tk 74-76, a Tk 2.0-3.0 decline.
Palm oil prices also showed a downtrend last week. It witnessed Tk 3.0-4.0 slide per litre during this period.
The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) recorded a 5.0 to 6.0 per cent decline in soybean and palm oil prices in the week.
According to the global commodity web-portal IndexMundi, soybean oil prices declined to $700-$727 a tonne (1.0 tonne =1,000 kg) in November-December period from $780- $800 in June-July last year.
Palm oil also declined to just $500-$535 per tonne in November-December from $650-$ 665 a tonne six months back, IndexMundi data showed.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, the country has a demand of 1.8 million tonnes of edible oil annually.
Local refiners imported 2.9 million tonnes of the commodity in the last calendar year.
Prices of potato declined by Tk 2-3 per kg and was sold at Tk 18-Tk 22 a kg on the day.
Traders said harvests of potato have started in the northern and north-western regions by a large number that helped ease prices further.
Onion also witnessed a further decline by Tk 2.0-4.0 a kg as local variety of the spice was sold at Tk 24-28 a kg yesterday.
Broiler chicken prices witnessed a hike by Tk 5.0 a kg during the seven-day period. The protein item was selling at Tk 120-130 a kg on Thursday.
tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com