60,000MT cooking oils reach Ctg Port, more on way

Soybean oil was almost out of market on Saturday. During this severe crisis, this trader in Tegharia area of Dhaka's South Keraniganj is seen selling loose soybean oil in small quantities to each customer — FE photo by Shafiqul Alam

CHATTOGRAM, May 07: Despite arrival of five ships at Chittagong Port loaded with a huge quantity of imported edible oils in the last eight days, prices of the item have increased significantly at the local market during the period.
According to sources, five ships carrying a total of 59,044 metric tonnes (MT) of crude soybean and palm oils have taken berth at the Chittagong seaport. Unloading of the oils carried by one of the vessels has already been completed.
Orient Challenge, NS Stella, Meghna Pride, MT Sangin and MV Sumatra Palm vessels carrying 59,044 MT of edible oils from two oil exporting countries, berthed at the port from April 29 last to May 6.
Sources said, Orient Challenge loaded with 21,000 MT crude soybean oil imported from Argentina arrived at the port on April 29, NS Stella carrying 7,000 MT oil from the same country reached the port on May 2, Meghna Pride loaded with 7,799 MT palm oil from Indonesia reached the port on May 4, MT Sangin with 11,245 MT imported oil from the same southeast Asian country arrived at the port on May 4 while  MV Sumatra Palm with 12,000 MT palm crude reached the port on May 6. S Alam Group, TK Group and others are the importers of the commodity in question. Sources at Chittagong Port and edible oil importers have confirmed berthing of the five vessels at the seaport from those countries in the last eight days.
Port officials said unloading of the cooking oil from MT Orient Challenge has already been completed while unloading of the same from four other vessels was continuing until filing of the report at 8:00pm on Saturday.
Both officials and importers informed that some other ships loaded with a sizeable quantity of imported edible oils are on their way to Chittagong Port. The ships are likely to arrive within the next two or three days, they said.
Contacted, Secretary of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Omar Faruk also confirmed berthing of the ships with the imported edible oils at the port in the last eight days. "Around 60,000 MT of edible oil has reached the Chittagong Port from April 29 to May 6 last. The ships came from Argentina and Indonesia. Unloading of the oil from the ships is continuing now," he added.
Meanwhile, both packed and loose soybean oil witnessed another round of price hike last week.
According to a notice of the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association issued on May 4 last, newly-fixed prices of their packed or bottled soybean oil will now cost Tk 198 per litre, which was Tk 160 before Eid-ul-Fitr. The price of a bottle containing five-litre soybean oil has now been fixed at Tk 985.
The price of loose soybean oil has been raised by Tk 40 to Tk 180 per litre. The edible oil mill owners also raised the price of palm super oil by Tk 42 to Tk 172 a litre.
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