Loose palm and soybean oil prices shot up to Tk 150 and Tk 165 a litre respectively, as the refiners could not follow even their own proposal on fixing these prices, said insiders.
On February 06, the government fixed the maximum retail price (MRP) of loose soybean oil at Tk 143 a litre and loose palm oil at Tk 133 a litre, apart from fixing bottled soybean oil MRP at Tk 168 a litre while giving approval to the refiners' proposal.
During the fixation, the MRP of loose soybean oil was already at Tk 150 a litre and palm oil Tk 145 a litre in the market, according to the city's groceries and the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
The price of loose soybean and super palm oil shot up to Tk 165 and Tk 150 a litre respectively in the last two days, battering the commoners - who are already in great misery for rocketing price trend of most of the essentials.
The TCB recorded a Tk 9.0-Tk 12 a litre hike in soybean oil price and Tk 7.0-Tk 8.0 hike in palm oil price in a week.
The current oil prices are more than 40 per cent higher than those a year back, while these are 80-100 per cent pricier than the pre-pandemic period.
Jamal Hossain, an edible oil vendor in Beribadh-Mohammadpur area in the city, said wholesale price of super palm went up to Tk 5,700 a maund (nearly 40.4 litre) at Moulovibazar on Thursday evening, which was below Tk 5,300 a week back.
A Moulovibazar-based wholesaler said the refiners have squeezed supply of loose oil, as they might further raise oil prices. They have almost stopped issuing new delivery orders (DOs).
Traders are now exchanging old DOs at high rates than those of official prices, which is causing surge in loose oil prices.
"Our purchase cost of soybean oil is more than Tk 155 a litre and super palm Tk 142 a litre," he added.
Asked, Biswajit Saha, director of City Group - one of the leading refiners of the country, said their mill-gate price of loose soybean oil was static at Tk 142 a litre and super palm at Tk 130 a litre. The oil prices are rising mostly at city wholesale and retail levels.
"But we have already proposed further review of oil prices to the government, as global soybean oil price hit US$ 1,640 a tonne this month."
He noted that palm oil price also hit a record of $1,550 a tonne during this time.
"The soybean oil, which we are now supplying, was imported at more than $1,500 a tonne."
The government should immediately review the three-tire VAT system for edible oils to minimise their prices for consumers, he opined.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Vice President S M Nazer Hossain said the government is realising more than 30 per cent VAT from imported cooking oils - at a time when prices of the essentials hit a decade-high in the global market.
He urged the government for removing all kinds of taxes on oils for an interim period during the pandemic, when people are going through a hard time due to high inflation as well as decline in their income.
Besides, the TCB's operation of subsidised sale should be extended notably across the country to help millions of people to afford edible oils.
Mr Hossain also requested the government to ensure strict monitoring, so that both the refiners and other players in the value chain follow the government's decree to maintain equilibrium in the market.
Bangladesh consumes more than 2.2 million tonnes of edible oils annually, of which it imports 90 per cent.
Leading nine refiners are controlling more than 80 per cent of the country's oil market.
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