Govt rejects traders’ proposals for edible oil price hike

The Commerce Ministry has rejected the proposal of increasing the prices for edible oils responding to a proposal by the country’s importers.

The administration will take strict legal actions against those will try to increase prices in any way, he asserted.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said this after an inter-ministerial meeting on Wednesday (March 2) afternoon.

Besides, the meeting took a decision that unbottled soybean and palm oil would not be allowed to sell after May 31 and December 31 respectively.

Earlier on February 6, the prices of soybean oil were increased by Tk 8 per litre and palm oil by Tk 15 per litre.

On February 27, importers under the banner of “Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association” again submitted a proposal to fix Tk 180 per increasing Tk 12 per liter for bottled edible oil.

The association, in a letter, informed the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission about the price hike.

It mentioned that the price of a ton of unrefined soybean oil increased to $1,700 in the international market, which was $1,400 early this month.