Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will procure 1.10 crore litres of edible oil and 10,000 metric tons of lentil to sell through its open market sale (OMS) programme. Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) approved two separate proposals in this regard in a meeting on Thursday, presided over by Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali. Don’t listen to rumours involving commodity prices: PM  The Commerce Ministry placed the proposals on behalf of the TCB. According to proposals, the TCB will import 1.10 crore litres of Soybean oil through open tender from  City Edible Oil Ltd. at a total cost of Tk 174.66 crore with each litre at Tk 165.25. Jatka conservation week to begin March 11 The TCB will procure 10,000 metric tons of lentil at a cost of Tk 83.12 crore from Nabi Naba Food Limited with each kg at Tk 103.09.

State-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will procure 2.75 crore (27.5 million) litres of Soybean oil from the local suppliers for its Open Market Sale (OMS) propgramme. Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) in a virtual meeting on Wednesday approved three separate proposals of the Commerce Ministry in this regard. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the meeting while other members of the committee attended it virtually. The move of the TCB, a subordinate body of the Commerce Ministry, which has been operating as a state-marketing agency to tame the rising price hike of essentials, is part of the government's plan to procure some essential commodities in bulk and sell those through the OMS programme. As per the Commerce Ministry's proposals, the TCB will procure the entire edible oils through three open tenders. Read more: Soybean oil: No real effect of reduced tariff Under the proposals, some  1.10 crore litres of soybean oil will be procured from privately owned City Edible Oil Limited at a cost of Tk 203.32 crore with cost of each litre at Tk 104.48 per litre. The similar quantity of soybean oil will be procured from Super Oil Refined Limited at 204.44 crore with each litre cost at Tk 185.95 and some 55 lakh litres of soybean oils will be purchased from Shun Shing Edible Oil Ltd at a cost of Tk 101.47 crore with each litre's price at Tk 184.05.    The CCGP also approved some other procurement proposals, including the procurement of 130,000 metric tons of fertiliser. Of these, the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) will import 50,000 MW of Muriate of Potash (MOP) fertiliser from Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) at a cost of Tk 344.90 crore with each metric ton cost $655.03.  The Canadian Commercial Corporation will supply another 50,000 MT of MOP at the same price under a separate lot.  State-owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will import 30,000 MT of bulk granullar urea from Fertiglobe Distribution Limited, UAE at a cost of Tk 163.75 crore with each metric ton costing Tk $518.33. The BCIC will also import 10,000 metric tons (MT) of phosphoric acid for its Chattagram TSP Complex Limited from Guizhou Chanhen Chemical Corporation, China (local agent Best Eastern, Dhaka) at a cost of Tk 73 crore. The CCGP approved a number of proposals of the Housing and Public Works Ministry to raise the cost of civil works  under its “Construction of Elevated Expressway from Lalkhan Bazar in Chittagong City to Shah-Amanat Airport” project. Read more: Bottled soybean oil to cost Tk 14 less per litre from tomorrow Under the proposals, the cost of the civil construction works No-WD-1 will be increased by Tk 649.02 crore, while cost of the civil works No-WD-1 of “Construction of road from Kalurghat Bridge to Chaktai Canal along the banks of Karnaphuli River” will get higher by Tk 230.05 crore. The CCGP approved a proposal of the Roads and Highways Department to award a Tk 1,085.34 crore contract to a joint venture of (1) CHSIETC, China; (2) SLGC, China and (3) PDL, Bangladesh to implement the Construction of lot No. DS-06 of the WP-03 package of the “SASEC Dhaka-Sylhet Corridor Road Development” project. The committee also approved three proposals for the extension costs of the three segments of a project under the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC). As per the approvals, the cost of the work of No-WP-10 package of the “Sasec Road Link Project-2: Upgradation of Elenga-Hatikamrul-Rangpur highway to 4-lane” will be increased by Tk 211.03 crore while the cost of the work No - WP-11 package of the same project will be increased by Tk 147.65 crore and cost of the works No-WP-12 package will be enhanced by 142.84 crore.  

The government will start open market sale (OMS) of whole-wheat flour packets across the country from October 1, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said today (September 13, 2022). The process of packaging whole-wheat flour for OMS has already started, he said at the ‘BSRF Dialogue’, organised by Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum (BSRF) at the Secretariat. “Packed whole-wheat flour may cost a little more. However, it will be sold at half the price of the flour that is being sold in the market,” he added. Read:OMS will continue till rice market is stable: Food Minister “We will allocate one tonne of whole-wheat flour per day to dealers in districts and city corporations for sale from October 1,” said the minister. Besides, the shipping of imported wheat has also started, he added.

Selling rice and flour through open market sale (OMS) program will continue until the rice market is stable, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said today (September 6, 2022). “The government operates the program for five months – from March to April and September to November – every year and the OMS service will continue as long as the market is unstable,” he said. The government started OMS from September 1 and under the service, people can purchase one kg of rice at Tk 30 and one kg of flour at Tk 18. Local administration, officials of Food Department and intelligence team are monitoring the service, said the minister. Talking about Boro procurement, the food minister said the government has procured 11.21 lakh tonnes of boiled rice while 55.20 thousand tonnes of non-boiled rice have been collected. Also read: Offer easy loans to create entrepreneurs: Razzaque to banks “The government has a target to procure 6 lakh tonnes of paddy but we got only 2.68 lakh tonnes,” he said. During the current Aman season, the government will import rice after ensuring fair prices for the farmers. The government is going to procure 10.30 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat from several countries, he said. As per agreement, the government will purchase 2.30 lakh tonnes of rice from Vietnam, two lakh tonnes from Myanmar, one lakh ton from India, and five lakh tonnes of wheat from Russia, he added. He also hinted at more procurement of rice through the government to tackle the drought in advance. An individual can buy five kgs of rice and flour. Besides, the TCB card holders can also avail the opportunity. Meanwhile, the government also started the ‘food friendly programme’ from the same day under which 50 lakh people can purchase rice at Tk 15.    

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will start open market sale (OMS) of some essential commodities including edible oil from mid of May in Dhaka and other divisional cities. The ministry is working to re-fix the prices of essentials including edible as their prices have gone up on the global market, said an additional secretary to the Commerce Ministry. Also read: Govt approves fresh hike in edible oil price effective Friday Primarily the TCB will engage 400 trucks for OMS after fixing the prices of commodities, he said. In the month of Ramadan, the TCB sold soybean oil at Tk110 per liter, but the price of soybean and other edible oil jumped bothon local and global markets, so it is needed to re-fix the prices of TCB’s edible oil and other commodities, the official said. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi will brief reports on edible oil supply and management issue at his secretariat office on Monday, senior information officer of the ministry Abdul Latif Bakshi  told UNB on Sunday. Also read: Around 23 million litre soybean oil arrives at Chittagong port amid growing demand Besides, Tipu Munshi will talk formally with the traders, edible oil importers and refiners regarding the current situation of edible oil price and supply in the market.

As news of India’s onion export ban spread, traders in Magura hiked prices of the bulb to as high as Tk 100 per kg on Wednesday.

Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh (CAB), Chattogram on Friday claimed that despite the coronavirus crisis, prices of essential consumer goods have been rising all over the country.