United News of Bangladesh

Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin on Tuesday said businesses have increased edible oil prices without the government’s approval, which is beyond their authority. Bottled edible oil price goes up by Tk 6 per litre “The government has not raised edible oil prices, nor has it given any permission to businesses to do so. Businesses do not have the authority to increase prices without the ministry’s approval. If there are price discrepancies, the government will take necessary measures,” he said while speaking at an event in Purbachal on the recent hikes in soybean and palm oil prices. Bashir Uddin said edible oil is a regulated product under the Ministry of Commerce and only the ministry has the authority to fix its prices. “The Tariff Commission determines edible oil prices based on a 14-year-old formula. Personally, I do not find this formula reasonable,” the adviser said. He said the ministry has tasked two financial bodies — the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) — with reviewing edible oil prices in line with global market trends. “On Monday, ICMAB submitted a draft report to the ministry. ICAB has not yet submitted any report. In this interim period, traders suddenly announced a price hike, which is completely illegal,” Bashir Uddin said. Edible oil prices to go up in Bangladesh He stated that the ministry will soon adjust edible oil prices after analyzing the reports from both institutes. On Monday, the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association claimed that the new prices were set in consultation with the Ministry of Commerce and aligned with international market rates. Bashir Uddin, however, clarified that no such approval was granted by the ministry. According to the new rates set by businesses, bottled soybean oil has increased by Tk 6 per litre to Tk 195, while loose soybean oil went up by Tk 8 per litre to Tk 177. Besides, a 5-litre bottle of soybean oil now costs Tk 945 after a Tk 23 hike, and loose palm oil has been raised from Tk 13 per litre to Tk 163.  

The DORP Youth Forum on Thursday called for the merger of the low and medium tiers of cigarette pricing and set the minimum retail price at TK 90 for a 10-stick pack.  The demand was raised during a human chain held in front of the National Press Club urging the government to increase the price and tax on all tobacco products and to reform the existing tobacco tax policy in the upcoming 2025-26 national budget.  Over a hundred university students participated in the demonstration, held as part of the campaign to achieve a tobacco-free Bangladesh and protect public health.  Speakers at the event stated that the affordability and easy availability of cigarettes in Bangladesh have significantly contributed to an increase in smoking among youth, posing a serious threat to public health. Currently, around 18% of youths and adults in the country smoke, resulting in approximately 161,000 tobacco-related deaths each year. DU student Emon highlighted that among the four existing price tiers of cigarettes in the market, sales of low and medium-tier products have surged. These two tiers dominate the majority of the cigarette market.  He argued that merging the low and medium tiers and setting the minimum price at TK 90 per 10 stick pack wouldhascourage the younger generation from initiating smoking. Youth advocate Sinthiya added that if their demands are implemented, at least 1.7 million youths could be protected from the devastating grip of tobacco. Moreover, tobacco-related premature deaths could be significantly reduced. She also noted that the government could earn more than Tk 200 billion in additional revenue, which would be nearly 43% higher than the previous year. WB approves USD270 million to support Bangladesh's flood recovery efforts Dr. Silvana Ishrat, representative of DORP's tobacco control project, remarked that although the average income and inflation have both doubled since 2016, the price of low-tier cigarettes has not increased proportionately. As a result, cigarettes have become even more accessible. She emphasized that without reforming the tax policy, effective tobacco control is not possible. From the human chain, the forum called upon the government to include a proposal for raising cigarette prices in the 2025-26 budget and to develop a robust, health-oriented tobacco tax policy.  The Development Organization of Rural Poor (DORP) Youth Forum expressed hope that the government would recognize the voices of young people and take effective steps to build a tobacco-free, healthy, and sustainable Bangladesh for future generations.      

The government is considering reducing the import duty on rice in an effort to stabilise rice prices in the country. Sources at the finance, commerce, and food ministries indicate that this decision is being contemplated due to recent floods that severely impacted paddy cultivation. Major agricultural areas, including Chattogram, Feni, Noakhali, Laxmipur, and Cumilla, were flooded, and currently, Rangpur, Sherpur, Lalmonirhat, Netrokona, and Mymensingh are facing flood. These regions are vital rice producers for the country. Read: Price hikes: Seven businesses fined in market monitoring drive As a result, rice prices have risen significantly in the local market, causing difficulties for consumers. According to commerce ministry sources, the price of various types of rice has increased by 8-10 percent recently. “In this situation, the government aims to control prices and stabilize the market through rice imports. An initiative is underway to reduce the import duty on rice,”said a finance ministry official wishing not to be named. Currently, rice imports are subject to a 62.50 percent customs duty. The food ministry has requested the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to lower this duty to 5 percent. A letter was sent by Joint Secretary Lutfar Rahman to the NBR on September 29. The letter highlighted that the food ministry is working to ensure food security through improved management and the provision of safe and nutritious food. To support food security and incentivize farmers, a target of 500,000 tons of paddy and 14,700,000 tons of rice has been set for the current Boro season. By August 31, 296,970 tons of paddy and 1,255,497 tons of rice had been collected. Currently, the government’s storage holds 12,64,740 tons of rice and 4,63,928 tons of wheat, totaling 1,754,199 tons of food grains. However, after the floods, rice prices have risen sharply at the production, wholesale, and retail levels. In response, the Ministry of Food, Directorate of Food, National Directorate of Consumer Protection, and local administrations have increased market surveillance to control prices. Fair market monitoring and operations against illegal stockpiling are ongoing, but food grain prices have continued to rise. Read more: Interim Government committed to curbing essential commodity prices by breaking syndicates: Mahfuj Alam The food ministry also noted that recent floods in 14 districts have caused severe damage to Aoush, Aman seedlings, and Aman seedbeds. The demand for rice, coupled with reduced supply, could push prices even higher. Additionally, India’s wheat export ban, reduced wheat imports due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and rising global food prices have contributed to the surge in grain prices. In this context, stabilising the rice market and increasing the government’s safety stock is essential. Private-level rice imports may also be necessary. The government has already received approval to import 500,000 tons of rice. Although the global rice market is currently priced higher than the domestic market, reducing the existing rice import duty from 62.50 percent to 5 percent is seen as a necessary measure to maintain price stability. Currently, rice imports are subject to a 25 percent customs duty, 25 percent regulatory duty, 5 percent advance income tax, 5 percent advance tax, 1 percent insurance, 1 percent landing charge, and 0.5 percent DF VAT. Read more: 12 kg LPG cylinder price hiked by Tk 35 India recently reduced its rice export duty from 20 percent to 10 percent. If Bangladesh reduces its import duty to 5 percent, a combined duty of 15 percent will apply to rice imports from India. The food ministry’s letter emphasised that this reduction in duty will encourage importers to meet domestic demand. The ministry has requested the NBR to take the necessary steps to reduce the duty on non-basmati parboiled rice and non-scented atap rice for both public and private imports.  

Price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has decreased by Tk 6.33 per kg to Tk 118.54 from the previous price of Tk 124.85 per kg for the month of March. Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) announced its latest price through a press release on Thursday. As per the new price, 12kg LPG cylinder cost has cut by Tk 76 as a retail consumer will get it at Tk 1,422 instead of previous price of Tk 1498 (including VAT). LPG prices for other sizes of cylinders – from 5.5kg to 45kg – will go down rationally, said the  BERC press release. An official of the BERC said that the prices witnessed such fall due to a decline in the prices of Saudi CP (contract price). Last month, as per the Saudi CP, the LPG price was $790 per metric ton while the current month’s CP was set at $733 per MT with increase by $57 per MT, he added. Bangladeshi LPG operators normally import their products from Middle-East Market on the basis of Saudi CP. As per the BERC decision, the price of “auto gas” (LPG used for motor vehicles) also decreased to Tk 66.22 per litre (including VAT) from previous Tk 69.71 per litre, down by Tk 3.49 per litre. The new prices will be effective from 6 pm today (2 March, 2023). Read more: 12kg LPG cylinder to cost Tk 46 more The price of LPG, marketed by state-owned LP Gas Company, will remain the same as it is locally produced with a market share of less than 5 per cent. The LPG price witnessed the highest price at Tk 1,498 (per 12kg cylinder), in the local market in February this year following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February last year. Normally, the BERC Chairman announces the LPG price at the beginning of every month through a virtual press briefing. This time, there was no press briefing as four members out of five including the BERC chairman recently retired from their jobs after expiry of their contracts with the government. New chairman has not been appointed yet, said a BERC official.

Global food prices dropped for a fifth straight month in August, but were still eight percent higher than a year ago, according to the UN food and agriculture agency. The cost of food has been one of the biggest contributors to inflation around the world. FAO's latest global food price index, published Friday, shows that the prices of five commodities – cereals, vegetable oil, dairy, meat and sugar – were lower in August than in July. The index, which measures the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 138.0 points last month, down nearly two percent from July, though 7.9 percent above the value a year before. The decline in cereal prices reflected improved production prospects in North America and Russia and the resumption of exports from Black Sea ports in Ukraine. A landmark agreement to unblock Ukraine's grain exports amid the ongoing war was signed in July by the country, Russia, Türkiye and the UN.  Read: UN food price index dropped in July for fourth month Rice prices on average held steady during August, while quotations for coarse grains, such as maize, rose marginally.   Vegetable oil prices fell 3.3 percent, which is slightly below the August 2021 level. The FAO attributed this to the increased availability of palm oil from Indonesia, due to lower export taxes, and the resumption of sunflower oil shipments from Ukraine. Although dairy prices saw a two percent drop, they remained 23.5 percent higher than in August 2021. The price of cheese increased for the tenth consecutive month, though milk prices eased following expectations of increased supplies from New Zealand, even amid projections of lower production in Western Europe and the US. The price of meat dropped by 1.5 percent but remained just over eight percent higher than the value last August. International quotations for poultry fell amid elevated export availability, and bovine meat prices declined due to weak domestic demand in some top exporting countries while pig meat quotations rose. Sugar prices also hit their lowest level since July 2021, largely due to high export caps in India and lower ethanol prices in Brazil. The FAO also issued its global cereal production forecast for this year, which projects a decline of nearly 40 million tonnes or 1.4 percent from the previous year. The bulk of this decline mainly concerns coarse grains, with maize yields in Europe expected to drop 16 percent below their five-year average level due to the exceptionally hot and dry weather conditions affecting the continent. However, the UN agency expects there will be a negligible drop in worldwide wheat production resulting from expected record harvests in Russia and conducive weather conditions in North America.    Global rice production is also expected to decline by 2.1 percent from the all-time high reached in 2021.

The National Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection (NDCRP) on Saturday fined Tk 4.5 lakh three egg aroth (wholesaler) at Baipile in Ashulia after finding evidence of illegal profiteering. Earlier egg wholesalers used to earn Tk0.20 per egg. Now they are making a profit of Tk2.70 per egg by creating a crisis. By holding the consumers' hostage, the traders are making a hefty profit per egg. On Saturday, the NDCRP in a raid found evidence of illegal profit-making at three egg wholesalers at Baipile in Ashulia. A fine of Tk 4.5 lakh has been realized on three egg traders. The operation was conducted led by Abdul Jabbar Mondol, head of Dhaka district office of NDCRP and assistant director of the directorate Md. Hasanuzzaman. Abdul Jabbar told UNB that most of the egg traders are not preserving the cash memo of the purchase. Not giving cash memo of sale. No price list either. Eggs are being priced based on demand rather than purchase price. Read: Mobile Court fines 36 vehicles at Kakrail It can be seen from their cash memos and documents that the purchase price of each egg was Tk9.40 on August 7 and sold at Tk9.60 at a profit of 0.20 paisa only. After 10 days the picture was different. On August 17, the buying price of each egg was Tk9.10 and the selling price was Tk11.80. In this case, the profit for each egg is Tk2.70 , which is unusual. Thus, for the crime of increasing the price of eggs through manipulation, Asif's egg  Aroth (traders) was fined Tk 1.0 lakh, SJ Agro egg aroth fined Tk 1.0 lakh and Faisal Enterprise was fined Tk 2.5 lakh. 

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has urged all to be patient for a couple of months terming the current energy and gas crisis as temporary. “I can assure you, if and when the prices of petroleum and gas decline in the world market, we will definitely readjust the local price accordingly”, he told a seminar at Biduyt Bhaban in the city on Sunday. “We’re watching the situation closely. Please, be patient for 1-2 months and get united to face the situation. The government will come out of the load shedding by the end of the next month”, he said. He claimed the government was forced to raise the petroleum fuel prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war situation that pushed up the price in the global market. “The effect of the war is everywhere and we’re not out of it”, he said adding,  Forum for Energy Reporters Bangladesh (FERB) and US-based gas company Chevron jointly organised the seminar titled: “Energy Security in Bangladesh: Volatile International Market” on the occasion of National Energy Security Day. With FERB president Shamim Jahangir in the chair, the event was also addressed by senior secretary of the Energy Division Mahbub Hossain, Petrobangla chairman Nazmul Ahsan, eminent energy experts Prof Badrul Imam and Prof M Shamsul Alam. Energy&Power magazine editor Mollah Amzad Hossain made a keynote presentation. FERB executive director Rishan Nasrullah conducted the function. Nasrul blasted the opposition BNP for criticising the government over the rising petroleum prices, gas crisis and cuts in electricity supply. “When they were in power the BNP did nothing but plundered the state's wealth. That’s why they became champions in corruption”, he said adding, the people had to experience load shedding for 16-17 hours a day at that time. He also said that BNP had rejected an offer from India to allow construction of a pipeline to take gas from Myanmar to India through Bangladesh. Read: Power crisis will not last long: Nasrul Hamid “If that gas line was constructed, we would have got gas from Myanmar at a cheaper rate”, he said.    The state minister also blamed the energy experts for wrongly advising the government for which it could not offer foreign oil companies to explore in the offshore areas of the country. “A number of geologists and experts worked with us and they suggested that it would be better to import LNG as exploration may take longer to get gas from our offshore areas”, he added.     He, however, said three foreign companies including US-based ConocoPhillips were awarded contracts to explore gas in offshore areas. “But at one stage they left the gas blocks saying that gas production would not be economically viable as they found gas elsewhere at cheaper cost”, he claimed. Senior energy secretary Mahbub Hossain said the government has taken up a plan to drill 46 wells which will add gas production by 6118 million cubic feet by 2025. Petrobangla chairman Nazmul Ahsan said the government has appointed a foreign consultant to go for international bidding to explore gas in offshore areas. “We hope we will get its report and an international tender will be floated by December this year for gas exploration in the bay”, he added. Prof Badrul Imam said the problems in the energy sector now widened in branches and sub-branches due to lack of initiative for gas exploration in recent decades. He said Myanmar discovered a huge quantity of gas in its Rakhaine state in the last 10 years. “But Bangladesh could not explore gas at the adjacent gas block-11, located within our territory despite huge potentials. The answer to this question is essential as to why we failed to do the exploration in our areas”, he said. M Shamsul Alam said Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) is the legal authority to set the petroleum fuel price like it does for natural gas and LPG. “But the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) set the petroleum prices defying the law which has no accountability”, he said, adding an independent audit should be conducted in the accounts of the organisation to check its corruption.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said on Thursday that Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission will soon decide whether the proposal of Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners & Vanaspati Manufacturers Association to increase edible oil price by Tk 20 a liter is justified or not. “Price of edible oil has come down in global market. But Dollar rate is high in our country and for this reason we are not getting the benefit which we were supposed to get due to fall in oil price. However, the Tariff Commission will examine the matter,” he said. Tipu said this after attending the cabinet meeting at the secretariat. Replying to a question, the Minister said that it’s not the Commerce Ministry’s job to monitor price hike of essentials by traders following the fuel price hike. Read: CAB urges govt to readjust edible oil prices “Fuel prices have been raised after adjusting with prices in the neighboring countries. If the current diesel price is taken into consideration, it’ll be found that the government is still incurring a loss of Tk 8 per liter,” said the Minister. The association proposed increasing edible oil price in line with rapid increase in dollar price. If the association’s demands are met, price of edible oil will increase from Tk 185 to Tk 205 per liter, while price of non-bottled Soybean oil will shot up to Tk 180 from Tk 166 a liter and a five liter bottle will be sold for Tk 960, up Tk 50 than the current rate.

The Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vegetable Manufacturers Association (BVORVMA), an association of owners of edible oil refining and marketing companies, has urged the government to hike prices of soybean oil by Tk 20 per litre.   The BVORVMA gave this proposal to the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) on August 3. The proposal stated that the price of open (loose) soybean oil be raised to Tk 180 a litre, Tk 205 a litre of bottled soybean and Tk 960 for five-litre bottle. Mustafa Abid Khan, a former member of the Tariff Commission, told UNB that when the price of edible oil was earlier adjusted, the dollar price was taken into consideration. As much of the price in the world market fell, the price in the country did not fall accordingly. Read: Soybean oil price cut by Tk14 per litre He said, now the proposal  can be reviewed. However, it should be kept in mind that people are under pressure due to the increase in the prices of commodities. The increase in fuel prices will further increase the pressure, he said.   Along with the price hike proposal, the BVORVMA has also provided a breakdown of the cost.

Amid much talk over the higher price of soybean oil, the government on Sunday reduced the price of bottled soybean oil by Tk14 to make it Tk 185 per litre. The new price will be effective from Monday across the country, a senior official of the commerce ministry told UNB. In consultation with the commerce ministry, the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vegetable Manufacturers Association (BVORVMA), an association of owners of edible oil refining and marketing companies on Sunday made the announcement. Also read: CAB urges govt to readjust edible oil prices This brings down the bottled soybean oil price by 7.03 per cent from Tk199 to Tk 185 per litre due to the declining price in the global market. The BVORVMA also agreed to reduce the price of palm oil from Tk 6 a litre to Tk 152 a litre. Also read: Soybean oil price decreased by Tk 6 per liter The new price of five-litre bottle of soybean oil will be Tk 910, down from Tk 980, he said.