Photo: Collected
Four ships have brought crude soybean oil to the Chittagong port from Brazil and Argentina. The ships arrived at the port at a time when there was a shortage of bottled soybeans in the market. Meanwhile, on Monday (December 9, 2024), the government increased the price of soybean oil by eight taka per liter amid this oil shortage.
Traders said that the temporary shortage of bottled soybeans in the market will be overcome by increasing supply. They said that imports will increase further before Ramadan due to the adjustment in soybean oil prices.
According to information from the Chittagong port, 21,500 tons of soybean oil were brought to the port on Saturday by two ships named MT Ardmore Shayani and MT Dumbledore. Two more ships named MT Sunny Victory and MT Zinga Thresher reached the port waters on Tuesday. These two ships have 30,600 tons of soybean oil. Of this, the unloading of oil from the MT Ardmore Shayani has been completed. The ship left the port on Monday. Among the ships, Sunny Victory came from Brazil, and the remaining three were from Argentina.
According to shipping company sources, these four ships were imported by City Group, Meghna Group of Industries (MGI), and TK Group. Of these, TK Group has 25,000 tons, City Group has 20,000 tons and Meghna Group has 7,000 tons of soybean oil.
Meanwhile, bottled soybean oil suddenly disappeared from the market a few days ago. After the price hike was announced on Monday, the hidden oil bottles returned to the shops; they are being sold in bulk. It seems that a river of bottled soybean oil is now flowing in the market!
After Commerce Advisor Sheikh Bashir Uddin announced to increase in the price of soybean oil by 8 taka per liter after a meeting with edible oil traders at the Secretariat on Monday, various shops in the capital were filled with bottled soybean oil of various brands including Teer, Fresh, Pusti, Bashundhara. In some markets including Karwan Bazar and Mohammadpur Agricultural Market, five-liter bottles of oil were sold for 840 to 850 taka last night. However, the price written on those bottles was 818 taka.
Those concerned say that this is nothing more than a robbery in broad daylight. There was no oil crisis. Unscrupulous traders have embezzled crores of taka by taking the breath of the buyers for a few days and holding the government hostage.
Consumers claim that syndicate traders will take advantage by creating an artificial crisis of oil today, sugar tomorrow, and maybe some other product the day after tomorrow. On the one hand, this will increase the cost of the consumer, and on the other hand, the government will also come under pressure. Therefore, the information about when the oil bottles that are being supplied to the market now were imported, what was the import price, and when they were marketed should be investigated.
On the other hand, to increase the supply of edible oil in the market and keep prices normal, the interim government on October 17 reduced the VAT on the import of these three products - crude soybean oil, refined palm oil, and soybean seeds - from 15 percent to 10 percent. On November 19, it exempted another 5 percent VAT at the local production level and kept 5 percent VAT only at the import level. This was supposed to reduce the price of both bottled and open oil by 12 to 13 taka per liter.
Again, the price of oil was increased at a time when food inflation was also abnormal. According to the latest estimate of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), food inflation rose to 13.80 percent in November last year. In this situation, the concerned people believe that the pressure on the consumer will increase further.
Announcing the new price, the trade advisor said that there is a slight shortage in the supply of soybean oil in the market at the moment, as is seen in the media. Many in the government, including the chief advisor, have expressed concern about this; consumers are also uneasy. To resolve this problem, the pricing situation has been restructured with the cooperation of the Tariff Commission as a practical step after meeting with stakeholders.
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