The government on Monday decided to increase the price of edible oils by Tk 1 per litre following a demand by the refiners to make an upward adjustment in the prices by Tk 10.聽
The decision was taken at a meeting between commerce adviser Sk Bashir Uddin and leaders of the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association at the secretariat in the capital.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh general secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan slammed the decision calling it a defeat for the聽 non-political government to the businesses.
Even a hike by one take is bad news for consumers, already pressed hard by elevated inflation of around 9 per cent, he said.聽聽聽聽
The day鈥檚 meeting was convened following a proposal from the Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association to the commerce ministry in the past week to hike the prices of edible oils citing volatility in the prices of edible oils on the international market.聽聽聽
Officials attending the meeting said that the proposed price hike by the association was not acceptable to the commerce ministry as it was not consistent with the international market prices.
The average price of each tonne of soya bean oil on the international market was $1,178 in June, $1,307 in July and $1,245 in August, according to the World Bank Commodities Price Data released on September 3.
The average price of each tonne of palm oil, on the other hand, was $935 in June,聽 $976 in July, and $1,026 in August.
Local refiners such as City Edible Oil Ltd, Meghna Vegetable Oils Refinery Ltd, and Shabnam Vegetable Oil Industries mainly import soya bean for crushing, the average price of which was on the international market $416 in June, $410 in July, and $407 in August.
Crushers supply around 40 per cent of the country鈥檚 soya bean oil need while importers import the remaining 60 per cent as crude soybean oil which is refined domestically, said a United States Department of Agriculture report released in Mach 2025.
The country imported around 22 lakh tonne of soya bean in the financial year of 2024-25 and in the same period around 16.8 lakh tonne of palm oil, the demand for which has increased as its price is lower compared to soybean oil, added the USDA.
Following the latest decision for the upward adjustment of edible oils prices, the price of each liter of soya bean oil will be Tk 190 in place of Tk 189, which was fixed in March.
Each litre of palm oil sold at Tk 150 after its price was cut by Tk 19 on August 12.
Meghna Vegetable Oils Refinery Ltd deputy general manager Taslim Shahriar, who attended the day鈥檚 meeting, said that they raised objections to the government decision of the token price hike.
Such a decision is not acceptable to the businesses, he said, adding that the government imposed 1 per cent advance income tax on imports of edibles oil recently affecting also the prices of the items.
The CAB general secretary said that the present government should give policy supports to businesses instead of putting pressure on consumers by increasing the price of essential kitchen items.
