Soybean oil price cut by Tk 10 a litre

Hours after a meeting with the commerce ministry, Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners' and Vanaspati Manufacturers' Association yesterday reduced the price of soybean oil by Tk 10 per litre.

The new price of loose soybean oil is Tk 167 and packet soyabean oil is Tk 189.

Meanwhile, the price of palm oil was reduced by Tk 2 per litre, to Tk 133.

The price reduction will come into effect "within a few days", said Tapan Kanti Ghosh, senior secretary to the commerce ministry yesterday.

He made the comment at a press briefing after a meeting of a task force on the analysis of the market situation and commodity prices at the Secretariat.

"As the price of edible oil is downward in the international market, we will sit again after 15 days to find out if the prices of soybean and palm oil could be reduced further," he said.

Multiple issues were discussed in the meeting, including the prices of soybean oil, onion, ginger and garlic. There was a discussion on the current import situation too, said Tapan.

"We have already reduced the price of onion after the decision to allow imports," he said.

There is a shortage in the supply of ginger as China has stopped exporting the product. As a result, its price shot up in the local market, he said, adding that there was a shortfall in imports of wheat and sugar too.

The sugar price has become stable in the international market. "We hope that it will not increase further. If it does not increase, we will be able to reduce sugar prices," he said.

Asked, Tapan said the price reduction in the international market is not reflected in the local market immediately because of various factors including dollar price, tax rate and fixation of inland transportation cost.