Govt to buy 4.75cr litres edible oil, 1.30 lakh tonnes fertiliser
Govt also approves drilling of 5 wells in Bhola
The Government's Procurement Advisory Council Committee has approved the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)'s plan to buy 4.75 crore litres of edible oil, including 1 crore litres of rice bran oil and 3.75 crore litres of soybean oil.
The Ministry of Commerce proposal was approved today (23 December) by the procurement committee at a meeting presided over by Finance Advisor Dr Saleh Uddin Ahmed.
Under the plan, rice bran oil will be procured locally through an open tender, while soybean oil will be acquired internationally using the direct purchase method.
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Locally, three companies will supply rice bran oil at Tk 167.90 per litre: Gaibandha's Pradhan Oil Mill will supply 25 lakh litres, Dhaka's Green Oil and Poultry Feed Industries 25 lakh litres, and Majumdar Product Limited 50 lakh litres.
As for soybean oil, Malaysian company Sen Millennium Trade will supply 50 lakh liters at Tk132 per litre, US company Stuart Clobanu Gerhard of New Jersey will supply 1.25 crore litre at Tk132.69 per litre and Nigeria's Vidocq Firm and Export Ltd 2 crore litre at Tk121.32 per liter.
In the same meeting, the committee also approved the import of 1,00,000 tonnes of rice under two separate proposals from the Ministry of Food. One proposal covers 50,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice to be imported through an open tender; this consignment will be supplied by India's M/S Pattabhi Agro Food Private Ltd at $355.77 per tonne.
The remaining 50,000 tonnes will be imported from Pakistan on a government-to-government basis, purchased through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan at $395 per tonne.
The committee also approved the purchase of 1.30 lakh tonnes of fertiliser and the printing, binding and distribution of books for the 8th, 9th and 10th grades of secondary education for the 2026 academic year.
Chinese firm awarded contract to drill five gas wells
The procurement committee also cleared a turnkey contract worth Tk907 crore for drilling five wells, awarded to Sinopac International Petroleum Service Corporation Limited of China. Four of these are appraisal-cum-development wells at Shahbazpur-5 & 7 and Bhola North-3 & 4, while the fifth is an exploration well at Shahbazpur North East-1. The contract was secured through an international "one stage, two envelopes" tender process.
