Govt-fixed soybean oil rates fall on deaf ears

Retailers and wholesalers in Chattogram market are continuing to charge Tk 3 to Tk 4 higher than the Tk 115 fixed by the government as the retail price of each litre of loose soybean oil four days ago.

According to the sellers, loose soybean oil is selling for Tk 110 per litre at mill gates and at Tk 117 to Tk 118 at retail, although the government had fixed Tk 108 for the former and Tk 115 for the latter last Wednesday.

The mill gate refers to factories of refiners.

Wholesale traders at Khatunganj market, one of the country's largest wholesale commodity hub, say loose soybeans was being sold at mill gates for Tk 4,300 per maund (40.90 litres) at the beginning of last week.

However, on Saturday the price was hiked to Tk 4,500. The main reasons being supply shortages and price hikes in international markets.

"Although the demand for the product is increasing ahead of Ramadan, the supply is not," Abdur Rashid, a Khatunganj wholesaler, told The Daily Star.

"I bought a DO (delivery order) two weeks ago but failed to collect the oil from the mill gate up until today due to a supply shortage," he said.

Rabiul Haosen, a retailer of Kazir Dewri chicken market, said although the price of bottled soybean was similarly fixed by the government and being abided by, the same was not possible for the loose one.

"We have to buy the oil at Tk 114 to Tk 115 and the product is being sold in the retail market at Tk 117 to Tk 119 per litre," he said.

"It will not be possible to control the oil market by only fixing the price and not increasing the supply. In order to keep prices and supply normal, the government has to conduct monitoring everywhere from mill gates to retail markets," he added.

According to the Chattogram Custom House data, more than 9.18 lakh tonnes of edible oil, including crude soybean and refined palm oil, worth Tk 5,539 crore were imported in the past seven months from July to January of the current fiscal 2020-21.

Some 13.13 lakh tonnes of edible oil worth Tk 6,386 crore was imported in the same period of FY 2019-20.

On Wednesday, the commerce ministry fixed the price of loose soybean oil at Tk 115 per litre at the consumers' level, Tk 110 per litre at the distributor level and Tk 107 per litre at the mill gate.

Bottled soybean oil has been fixed at Tk 135 per litre at the consumers' level, Tk 127 per litre at the distributor level and Tk 123 per litre at the mill gate.