The government today decided to reduce the price of edible oil, considering the price reduction in the international market, Senior Secretary to the Ministry of Commerce, Tapan Kanti Ghosh, said today (June 11, 2023). The price of bottled soybean oil has been reduced by Tk 10 per liter to Tk 189, and loose soybean oil will now cost Tk 167 per litre. Also read: Bottled soybean price hiked by Tk 12 per litre, effective from today Meanwhile, the price of palm oil has been reduced by Tk 2 per litre to Tk 133, the senior secretary said after the 7th meeting of the ‘Task Force on Review of Commodity Prices and Market Situation’ at the conference room of the Ministry of Commerce at the Secretariat. The price reduction will come into effect "within a few days," he said. Also read: 11 proposals including import of soybean oil, sugar get cabinet body’s nod The commerce secretary said: “Many issues were discussed in today's meeting, including the prices of soybean oil, onion, ginger and garlic. We’ve also discussed the current import situation.” “We’ve already reduced the price of onion after the decision to allow imports,” he said. Also read: Govt cuts soybean oil price by Tk 5 per litre, effective from Sunday The commerce secretary also said the price of edible oil may reduce further in the next 15 days, based on the reduction in price in the international market. According to the Ministry of Commerce, there is a demand for 20 lakh tonnes of edible oil annually in the country. Of this, the demand during the holy month of Ramadan is close to 3 lakh tonnes. Around 200,000 tons are produced locally, while the remainder is imported. Also read: TCB to buy 1.60 crore litres of soybean oil for OMS ahead of Ramadan

The Commerce Ministry has set the price of packed sugar at Tk 95 per kg, loose sugar at Tk 90, and palm oil at Tk 125 per litre. The ministry on Thursday issued a notification in this regard as per the recommendation of Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC). Until today, the price of palm super oil (unbottled) was selling at Tk 133 per litre and packed sugar at Tk 89 per kg at the retail level. The price of palm oil decreased by Tk 8 per litre and the price of sugar rose by Tk 6 per kg. Read: Prices fixed: Palm oil Tk 12 cheaper, sugar to cost Tk 6 less at retail level The commerce secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh told reporters on Thursday that the new tariff will be effective immediately.   The government raised sugar prices as per the application of sugar refiners and decreased palm oil prices adjusting the domestic price with the global market. According to the recommendations of BTTC, a concern of the ministry, per litre palm super (unbottled) oil will be sold at Tk 120 in millgate, distributors will sell it at Tk 122, and at the retail or consumer level, it will be sold at Tk 125. Each kg of loose sugar can be bought at the millgate at Tk 85, at the distributor level at Tk 87, and at the retail level at Tk 90. And the distributors will buy packaged sugar at Tk 90 at millgate and sell it at Tk 95 at the consumers’ level.

Indonesia will lift an export ban on crude palm oil, cooking oil, refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm oil, and RBD palm olein starting May 23, as the country has brought domestic cooking oil prices and supply under control. Indonesian President Joko Widodo said at a virtual press briefing on Thursday that the cooking oil supply in the local market has reached 211,000 tons, far higher than 64,000 tons the country had before the ban was imposed on April 28. Also Read: Soybean oil price jumps as Indonesia bans export of palm oil "Now we already have more (supply) than we need nationally," Widodo said. The decision to lift the export ban came after protests from palm oil farmers and producers as they suffered declining prices and oversupply in fresh fruit bunches. Separately, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the export ban has been estimated to reduce the country's revenue by 6 trillion rupiahs (407.33 million U.S. dollars).    

The edible oil price has increased sharply in the domestic market in the last two days after Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, announced an export ban. Indonesia announced on Friday a ban on palm oil exports from April 28  in a bid to stymie the soaring domestic price of cooking oil. However, analysts expect the ban to be a temporary one lasting weeks rather than months.  The soybean oil (loose) which had been selling at Tk 192-195 per litre in the capital, started selling for Tk 200 per litre on Monday. Also read: Govt doing its best to rein in prices of essential commodities: PM Some areas of the capital are not getting oil at higher prices even. Not only loose Soybean oil, but also bottled oil is seeing a shortage. Buyers at Shanti Nagar Bazar complained that shoppers are creating artificial crises to sell oil at higher prices. A retailer there told UNB that they sold loose Soybean oil at Tk 175 per liter on Sunday morning. In the afternoon on the same day, they bought the same edible oil from the wholesaler at Tk 182 per liter. On Monday morning the same oil the retailer bought at Tk 192 per liter. Talking to UNB, an additional secretary of commerce ministry in additional charge on import cell said that the Commerce inistry is working to control the price of edible oil. Also read: Palm oil price cut by Tk 3 per litre The ministry will hold a meeting with business leaders regarding alternative sources of edible oil to meet the demand of palm oil, he said, maintaining anonymity. He also hinted that a huge volume of edible oil has been imported or LCs have been opened to import, so there is no reason for price hike or to worry about shortages.

The U.S. said it will ban all shipments of palm oil from one of the world’s biggest producers after finding indicators of forced labor and other abuses on plantations that feed into the supply chains of some of America’s most famous food and cosmetic companies.

The 16-year-old girl describes how her boss raped her amid the tall trees on an Indonesian palm oil plantation that feeds into some of the world’s best-known cosmetic brands. He then put an ax to her throat and warned her: Do not tell.

Analysts remain upbeat on palm oil prices next year after Malaysia's palm oil inventory fell to a three-month low in November and exports to China remained steady.