Edible oil price cut to Tk 141 per litre
Consumers will now be able to buy a litre of edible oil at Tk 141 per litre as refiners and manufacturers have reduced the price by around 2 per cent from Tk 144.
The Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association took the decision yesterday following a commerce ministry request.
The reduction comes eight days after the price of the necessary cooking ingredient was raised by Tk 5 per litre.
The association in a press release said it had decided to give a discount of Tk 3 per litre at the ministry's request considering the limit in purchasing capacity of consumers during the holy month of Ramadan and the Covid-19 pandemic.
This price will stay in effect until Eid-ul-Fitr and will be adjusted afterwards in tune with international market prices, it said.
As per the new decision, the retail price of branded soybean oil will be Tk 141 per litre, loose soybean at Tk 119 per litre and loose palm at Tk 110 per litre. The price of a five-litre bottle has been set at Tk 670.
From April 25, the association hiked the retail price of branded soybean oil to Tk 144 from Tk 139 per litre, while the cost of a five-litre bottle was set at Tk 685, up from Tk 660 not long ago.
Similarly, the price of loose soybean oil rose to Tk 122 per litre from Tk 117 while loose palm oil prices were fixed at Tk 113 per litre, up from Tk 109 in March.
Earlier on April 19, Vanaspati Manufacturers Association, the association of edible oil importers and manufacturers, sent a letter to the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission to inform them of their decision to raise edible oil prices.
In the letter, they asked the commerce ministry to set the price of soybean oil at Tk 150 per litre due to rising prices in the international market.
But considering the situation during Ramadan, the association fixed the retail price of branded soybean oil at Tk 144, it said on April 19.
With the new prices, the cost of edible oil has been hiked for a third time in about two months, putting pressure on consumers especially low-income people who are already suffering from a loss of income amid the Covid-19 crisis.
Earlier on March 15, the government had raised edible oil prices in which the retail price of unpacked palm oil was Tk 104 per litre, unpacked soybean oil Tk 115 per litre and canned soybean oil Tk 135 per litre while a five-litre bottle Tk 630.
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