Edible oil price likely to drop in two days: Commerce secy

Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh has said that the edible oil prices in the country are likely to come down in the next two days as the global marketplace reported a declining trend recently.

After a historic high rate recorded a couple of months ago, the prices of edible oil on the global market came down by 11-27% over the last month with the beginning of the seed harvesting seasons in major oil-producing countries.

"There could be good news regarding the prices of edible oil in the next two days," the commerce secretary said today while speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"Hopefully, the oil prices will come down. The calculation is being done to determine that," he added.

Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh further noted that the reduced rate will be determined after discussing the matter with national edible oil refinery and marketing companies.

However, he assured that there will be a decline in the prices of the essential cooking item.

The local prices of edible oil, one of the most essential commodities which had been on the rise in the local market amid the pandemic, rose further with the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. Meanwhile, importers are manipulating prices by different means and bagging higher profits.

On 15 June, a tonne of crude palm oil was booked at $1,290 on the international market, which had been $1,717 a month earlier – a 27% drop, according to IndexMundi, a data portal which gathers global facts and statistics from multiple sources. The price was $1,683 in April and $1,777 in March this year.

Besides, the price of soybean oil came down by 11% to $1,728 per tonne on Thursday (16 June) from $1,963 in mid-May. It was $1,948 in April and $1,957 in March.

Even as global prices were on a decline, Bangladesh's commerce ministry hiked the price of soybean oil by Tk7 to Tk205 per litre (bottled) on 9 June. However, it cut the price of palm oil by Tk14 to Tk158 per litre.

Talking to The Business Standard, traders said prices had remained almost unchanged for the last two months.