Handling edible oil price

Prices of edible oil have been hiked several times this year. But the recent hike of soybean oil has surpassed all previous records. The government has fixed the price of a litre of bottled soybean oil at Tk 198, a 23.75 per cent hike from Tk 160 per litre. It has been the biggest increase in Bangladesh's history. What is more worrying for all of us is that it looks like cooking oil prices may rise further. The refiners attributed the hike to the skyrocketing trend in the global market.

Bangladesh imports 2.2 to 2.6 million tonnes of cooking oil annually, including 0.7 to 0.8 million tonnes of soybean oil and 1.4 to 1.6 million tonnes of palm oil. More than 95 per cent of the local demand is met through imports. However, it is amazing that there are only a few refiners, who are importing oils to meet the demand of the whole country. We strongly urge the authorities concerned to import this essential cooking ingredient on their own and distribute it to the people at subsidised prices. The authorities should also initiate stringent checking especially on oil mills, many of whom hide their actual stock to create artificial shortage in the market.

Fariha Tabassum Piya,

Student of Department of Management,

University of Dhaka, Dhaka,

f.tabassum36@gmail.com