Prices of edible oils have increased notably over the last one and a half weeks in the country, adding to the woes of common people already battered by the high prices of essential items such as rice and onion.
Both loose and packaged oils witnessed a price hike of Tk 5.0-Tk 7.0 a litre, which refiners attributed to the global surge in soybean and palm oil prices in the last five months.
Expressing concern over the price hike, market observers suggested ensuring strict market monitoring and reviewing the import duties so as to keep prices within the reach of limited-income people. The oil refiners increased the rate on September 22 after informing the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) of it, sources said.
As per the new rate, the prices of bottled soybean oil of different brands went up to Tk 110-Tk 115 a litre from Tk 104-Tk 110 a litre.
A five-litre container of Rupchanda soybean oil, a product of Bangladesh Edible Oil Ltd., now sells at Tk 550, up from Tk 525 earlier; while its one-litre bottle was retailing at Tk 114-Tk 115.
Other brands like Teer (City Group), Basundhara and Pushti (TK Group) are now retailing at Tk 110 a litre, up from Tk 104-Tk105 earlier.
And each five-litre container of these three companies are now selling at Tk 520-525, up from Tk 490-Tk 500 a week back.
Meanwhile, prices of loose soybean oil jumped to Tk 94-95 a litre and loose super palm oil to Tk 88-Tk 90 a litre, registering a hike of Tk 7.0 in just one and half weeks.
The state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) recorded a 7.0 to 17 per cent hike in soybean and palm oil prices in the last two weeks.
Contacted, Director (corporate and regulatory affairs) of City Group Biswajit Saha told the FE that the refiners have reviewed the prices following a surge in the global market over the last five months.
They raised prices on September 22 after submitting a proposal in this regard to the BTTC, he said.
The cost of importing soybean oil has soared to over US $900 a tonne in August from less than $800 in March, he added.
He also said they have urged the government to update the present VAT and tax provisions so that they could supply edible oils at low rates to the market.
Mr Saha said importers have to pay more than 20 per cent duties on imported edible oils, which should be reviewed immediately in the wake of price hike on the global market.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (BVORVMA) placed a proposal to the BTTC in July-August to fix the duty on each tonne of edible oil at Tk 15,000 at the import stage instead of collecting it at three stages.
After analysing the proposal, the BTTC recommended that the National Board of Revenue (NBR) reform its three-tier tax structure on edible oil to a single-tier to keep the market stable.
The Tariff Commission, however, proposed fixing a duty of Tk 16,000 on each tonne at the import stage, saying that it wouldn't affect the revenue collection as well, said an official at the BTTC.
The NBR has yet to take any move to this end, according to sources.
Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, secretary of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said import duties on edible oil should be minimised so that people could get the essential item at low rates.
As the country is fully dependent on imported edible oil, imposing higher import duties on the product is illogical, he said. He said both poor and middle-income people have been suffering a lot due to skyrocketing prices of essentials.
Above 85 per cent of imported edible oil is sold in loose form in the country and the low-income house-holds are its main consumers, he said, adding that the surge in loose edible oil price has directly hit the poor.
Apart from the reviewing of duty structure, strict market monitoring is also needed to check any artificial price hike, he pointed out.
According to the commerce ministry, the country imports 2.2-2.6 million tonnes of crude soybean and palm oils annually against the domestic demand of 2.2 million tonnes of edible oil.
Of the imported oils, soybean accounts for 0.7-0.8 million tonnes and palm oil 1.4 to 1.6 million tonnes while the remaining are mustard, sunflower, rice bran and other edible oils.
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