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Consumers have been paying increased prices to buy edible oil, the essential commodity for preparing foods, over the last couple of days even though the commerce ministry yesterday said prices would not increase in the next two weeks.
Yesterday, retail prices of loose soybean oil were at Tk 145 to Tk 148 in Dhaka’s markets, up from Tk 140 to Tk 145 a week ago.
Prices of a five-litre bottle of soybean oil were Tk 710 to Tk 750 yesterday from Tk 700 to Tk 750 a week ago, according to market prices data of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh under the commerce ministry.
Prices of palm oil also increased, a development that comes at a time when rising inflation is putting a strain on wallets of consumers especially fixed, low and middle income groups.
Consumer price rose to a 14-month high to 6.05 per cent in December, impacted by a spike in non-food costs after the government hiked diesel and kerosene prices by 23 per cent two months ago.
However, prices of one-litre bottles of soybean oil did not rise, according to the TCB.
Two retailers at the city’s Mohammadpur area said they were selling a bottle of edible oil at Tk 160 per litre as they were yet to get delivery of new batches of cooking oil from edible oil refiners and their agents.
Yesterday, after a meeting with the refiners and wholesalers, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi admitted that refiners and traders increased prices of edible oil a bit.
But he said the government did not accept processors’ plans to hike prices of edible oil in the local markets over the next 15 days as further review of prices of the cooking oil was needed.
At a press briefing at his secretariat office in Dhaka after the meeting, he said he would sit again with the refiners and millers after 15 days to review the prices to fix the local market rates.
He said edible oil refiners have been seeking to increase prices further but that he had instead requested cutting prices of edible oil if possible.
“We could not take any final decision in today’s [Wednesday] meeting regarding fixing the edible oil price as further review is needed,” Munshi said.
The commerce ministry held the meetings after the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers’ Association on January 2 this year shared its decision of increasing prices of soybean and palm oil, mostly imported from abroad for insignificant domestic production.
On January 6, the commerce ministry after a meeting with refiners said the prices of edible oil would not increase, rather they would review the price hike proposals of the refiners.
Processors, who hiked prices in October this year, wanted to increase prices of each bottle of soybean oil by 5 per cent or Tk 8 per litre to Tk 168 on grounds of rising prices in the international market.
Biswajit Saha, director for corporate and regulatory affairs of City Group, one of the largest importers and processors, said they would decide on February 5.
He said processors had not made their new prices effective yet but discussions regarding the possible increase in prices might cause retail prices to increase.
Saha and an official of commerce ministry said refiners agreed to fix prices of each litre of bottled soybean oil at Tk 165 instead of Tk 168.
(TDS)
