Most of the consumers are being cheated when they buy edible oil as they pay for costly soybean oil but get low cost palm oil across the country, a survey of some of the city's kitchen markets has revealed.
Over 70 per cent of the imported edible oil of the country is palm, while at the retail shops a customer can hardly find any palm oil.
A kilogramme (kg) palm oil was being sold between Tk 110 and Tk 115 at city's Karwan Bazar, Mohammadpur or Kaptan Bazar areas Saturday in the name of soyabean oil.
Karwan Bazar wholesale trader Abu Hanif claimed that the actual retail cost of a kg of the palm oil should not be more than Tk 85 as the distributors sold it at Tk 73 per kg to them.
Meanwhile, many of the less known pet bottled brands of fake soyabean oil is also being marketed across the country which are basically palm oil, Karwan Bazar shopkeeper Solaiman Saheed said.
The import cost of a kilogram (KG) palm oil is Tk 30 to Tk 35 less than that of soyabean which guided the importers to go for aggressive marketing to the lower end of the market, sources said.
The picture is worst in the rural areas as customers are not as aware as their urban counterparts.
According to the customs import data, the country imported a total of 1.77 million tonnes of edible oil in 2013 among which 1.25 million tonnes are palm. This import figure meant that 72 per cent of total imported oil is palm oil.
When asked, Bangladesh Consumers Association (CAB) president Qazi Faruque said the CAB has pointed out this problem long, long ago but no step has been taken till date.
He said the government should introduce some strict regulatory measures so that the retailers cannot cheat the consumers.
When asked, Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRO) Director General Md Abul Hossain Mia said if any customer lodges any cheating complaint the DNCO can impose fine on a particular shopkeeper.
"The customers are not still aware about their rights. If they are cheated and if they subsequently file any complaint, the customers can get half of the money imposed as penalty," Mr Mia said.
Dysfunctional monitoring system and a state of oligopoly among the refiners and importers have led to a fall in the country's edible oil quality, prompting an unbridled price hike, official sources said.
Due to the lack of functional monitoring, the refiners sold about 80 per cent of the imported oil in the name of soyabean oil with premium prices, a Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) scientific officer told the FE Thursday.
Bangladesh produces only 10 per cent of its requirement of oils and fats and hence has to import the rest 90 per cent.
At present, the annual requirement of oils and fats in the country is about 1.76 million tonnes of which about 98 per cent is edible and only 2.0 per cent is inedible.
Against this requirement, the local production of oils and fats has remained below 200,000 tonnes. Palm oil is the dominating edible oil since 2003.
A. K. M. Fakhrul Alam, Regional Manager - Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar, Malaysian Palm Oil Council said in 2012 palm oil occupied about 64 per cent market share among the three major edible oils followed by soyabean oil with 28 per cent market share and canola/mustard oil with 8.0 per cent share.
According to Oil World, Bangladesh has been one of the fastest growing oils and fats market in recent years driven by population and economic growth.
About 80 per cent of edible oils consumed in the country is sold in loose form, which is dominated by palm oil.
Palm oil is mainly used as cooking oil. Besides, it is also used as one of important raw materials for shortening/vanaspati production, biscuit and bakery industries, food industries, namely, potato chips, fried snack foods, instant noodles, condensed milk, chocolate industries and ice cream etc, sources said.
Though it is still far below the required level prescribed by the nutritional experts, the per capita consumption of oils and fats in Bangladesh has been increasing gradually.
The per capita consumption of oils and fats recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is 21 kg a year for maintaining nutritional requirements of the human body. However, the present world average of per capita consumption of oils and fats stands at 16 kg.
In Bangladesh, the per capita consumption of oils and fats remained far below the world average and was hovering in between five and six kgs for a long time.
Consumers being cheated in the name of soybean oil
Jasim Khan | Published: March 18, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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