Cooking oil prices mark ‘unusual’ rise though global market stable

Yasir Wardad | Published: April 27, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: April 26, 2014 22:08:01

The prices of cooking oil increased unusually in kitchen markets in the last ten days despite a stable international market.
Retailers and wholesalers are at loggerheads over the surge.
Retailers said that the prices of edible oil increased slightly due to soaring prices in the wholesale market in last few days.
Palm oil and super palm oil prices increased by Tk 4-6 a litre and were selling at Tk80- 82 a litre and Tk 88-Tk90 litre respectively for the last one and half week, according to a review of key kitchen markets in the city said.
Atiqul Islam, a retailer at Chapra Mashjid under Azimpur area in the city, said the price of loose soybean oil increased by Tk 6-8 per litre and was sold at Tk 114-Tk 116 a kg, he said.
The price of bottled soybean oil increased one and half months ago by Tk2-3 per litre and the price of a five-litre container is now Tk 570-Tk 575.
Mr Atiqul said the price of super palm at Moulovibbazar wholesale increased to Tk 3050-3100 per maund (37.32 kg in the market), which was Tk2870-2900 two weeks back.
Soybean oil had a scarcity for last few days and the price surged to Tk36o0-3650 per maund (37.32 kg) from Tk3450-3500 two weeks back, he said.
When contacted, Md Golam Mawla, president of the Bangladesh Edible Oil Wholesale Merchants' Association said that the price hasn't increased at the wholesale level, rather it has reduced slightly.
He, however, admitted that the price in the global market is now static. "So, there is no cause for hiking the price". He said soybean price was Tk3500 per maund (37.32kg) on April 26---a Tk20-40 reduction in a month.
According to Mr Mawla, super palm was traded at Tk2970 (Shabnam)-Tk3040 (City) per maund for the last couple of weeks.
He said a supply shortage might occur due to transport shortage or traffic congestions in Chittagong.
An official at the state-run Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) told the FE that international price of soybean is now hovering between $910-$928 per tonne.
The market is almost static for the last eight months. The price may reduce in coming days amid bumper production in Brazil and Argentina, he said.
"The price hike in Bangladesh is unacceptable" he said.
He also said the domestic demand for edible oil has surged to nearly 1.8 million tonnes of which the country now imports 1.62 million tonnes, mainly from Malaysia, US, Barzil.
However, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), palm oil price was $800-$820 per tonne in the March-April period.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan told the FE that the government should conduct strict monitoring for the interests of consumers.
The edible oil sector is totally import-dependent and private sector dominates nearly 100 per cent of the market share, he said calling for government intervention to fix the prices.
"The Ramadan is not far away, so the government has to be cautious as demand for most of the commodities increase significantly in the month," he added.
Bangladesh imported 1.77 million tonnes of edible oil and fat in 2013 calendar year of which 1.25 million tonnes were palm oil, according to the Bangladesh Bank data.