Action against irregularities in distributorship system planned
Friday, 6 January 2012
FE Report
The government will take action against those involved in the irregularities in the newly introduced distributorship system that is widely believed to be the main reasons for volatility of soybean prices in the markets, officials said.
"We introduced distributorship system by scrapping the age-old delivery order (DO) system to check soybean price manipulation in the market," a high official of the commerce ministry preferring anonymity told the FE Thursday after meeting with the refiners of crude soybean and palm oil at the conference room of the ministry.
Commerce Secretary M Ghulam Hussain presided over the meeting.
The official said in the past there was no system of taking action against those involved in irregularities in the DO system for trading soybean.
"We will take action against the businessmen who are involved in the manipulation of distributorship system under section 40 of the Import Policy 2009-10," the official said.
The meeting, that started at 3:00 pm and lasted nearly two hours, reviewed the overall stock and price situation of soybean and palm oil in the local market.
Asked about the higher prices of soybean in the market, the official said the ministry of commerce has nothing to control the soybean prices directly as it depends on the exchange rate of taka against dollar.
He said the ministry of commerce is going to request the Bangladesh Bank (BB) to change the present 'deferred payment' system and introduce 'normal payment' system for paying import bills of crude soybean by the importers.
He, however, laid emphasis on maintaining smooth supply of soybean in the market side by side controlling the prices.
"It is important to maintain the supply chain of the product as it is vital for controlling the prices," he mentioned.
The meeting sources, however, said the refiners and the government officials would sit again on Sunday at Tariff Commission office in the capital to discuss the soybean price and stock position.
After the meeting a leading refiners on condition of anonymity told the FE that they are unable to import crude soybean from Brazil and Argentina as most of the banks showed reluctance to open letter of credit (LC) with an excuse of dollar crisis.
He also blamed spiralling exchange rate of greenback against Bangladesh Taka that had forced them to readjust the prices of soybean and palm oil.
Chairman of Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) Dr Mujibur Rahman, Director General (DG) of Directorate of National Consumers Rights Protection (DNCRP) Md Abul Hossain Mian and representatives of different refiners, among others, were present in the meeting.
In the retail markets Thursday per litre of soybean oil was sold between Tk 126 and Tk 130, while another variety of soybean known as 'super' was sold at Tk 105 to Tk 106 per litre and palm oil at Tk 100 per litre.
Different brands of five- litre bottled soybean oil such as Rupchanda was sold at Tk 625 while Teer, Fresh and Pushti brands were sold at Tk 615 respectively.
Two- litre bottled Rupchanda brand was sold at Tk 252 and Teer brand at Tk 248.
One litre bottled Rupchanda was sold at Tk 127 while Pusti and Teer brands were sold at Tk 125.
The government will take action against those involved in the irregularities in the newly introduced distributorship system that is widely believed to be the main reasons for volatility of soybean prices in the markets, officials said.
"We introduced distributorship system by scrapping the age-old delivery order (DO) system to check soybean price manipulation in the market," a high official of the commerce ministry preferring anonymity told the FE Thursday after meeting with the refiners of crude soybean and palm oil at the conference room of the ministry.
Commerce Secretary M Ghulam Hussain presided over the meeting.
The official said in the past there was no system of taking action against those involved in irregularities in the DO system for trading soybean.
"We will take action against the businessmen who are involved in the manipulation of distributorship system under section 40 of the Import Policy 2009-10," the official said.
The meeting, that started at 3:00 pm and lasted nearly two hours, reviewed the overall stock and price situation of soybean and palm oil in the local market.
Asked about the higher prices of soybean in the market, the official said the ministry of commerce has nothing to control the soybean prices directly as it depends on the exchange rate of taka against dollar.
He said the ministry of commerce is going to request the Bangladesh Bank (BB) to change the present 'deferred payment' system and introduce 'normal payment' system for paying import bills of crude soybean by the importers.
He, however, laid emphasis on maintaining smooth supply of soybean in the market side by side controlling the prices.
"It is important to maintain the supply chain of the product as it is vital for controlling the prices," he mentioned.
The meeting sources, however, said the refiners and the government officials would sit again on Sunday at Tariff Commission office in the capital to discuss the soybean price and stock position.
After the meeting a leading refiners on condition of anonymity told the FE that they are unable to import crude soybean from Brazil and Argentina as most of the banks showed reluctance to open letter of credit (LC) with an excuse of dollar crisis.
He also blamed spiralling exchange rate of greenback against Bangladesh Taka that had forced them to readjust the prices of soybean and palm oil.
Chairman of Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) Dr Mujibur Rahman, Director General (DG) of Directorate of National Consumers Rights Protection (DNCRP) Md Abul Hossain Mian and representatives of different refiners, among others, were present in the meeting.
In the retail markets Thursday per litre of soybean oil was sold between Tk 126 and Tk 130, while another variety of soybean known as 'super' was sold at Tk 105 to Tk 106 per litre and palm oil at Tk 100 per litre.
Different brands of five- litre bottled soybean oil such as Rupchanda was sold at Tk 625 while Teer, Fresh and Pushti brands were sold at Tk 615 respectively.
Two- litre bottled Rupchanda brand was sold at Tk 252 and Teer brand at Tk 248.
One litre bottled Rupchanda was sold at Tk 127 while Pusti and Teer brands were sold at Tk 125.