Govt to procure 55 lakh litres soybean oil, 60,000 tonnes fertiliser

The government today (27 November) approved separate proposals for procuring some 55 lakh litres of soybean oil, 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser and 50,000 tonnes of wheat to meet the growing demand of the country.

Besides, the government approved separate proposals to procure 20,000 tonnes of sugar and 20,000 tonnes of lentil.

The approvals came from the 14th meeting of the Advisers' Council Committee on Government Purchase in this year held at the Cabinet Division conference room at Bangladesh Secretariat with Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, the finance adviser said that they have special attention on procurement of essential items. "We're now procuring lentil, fertiliser and wheat," he added.

Responding to a question, he said that comfort has been restored to some extent among the common people regarding the prices of essentials.

"We're trying to ensure that there remains not much gap between the production cost, import cost and at the retail or consumer level while such gap does not become irrational," he added.

Cabinet Division officials said following a proposal from the Ministry of Commerce, the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) would procure 55 lakh litres of soybean oil from Bashundhara Multi Food Products Ltd with around Tk91.30 crore with per litre oil costing Tk166.

The meeting also approved two separate proposals from the Ministry of Commerce where the TCB would procure 10,000 tonnes of sugar through local Open Tender Method (OTM) from Meghna Sugar Refinery Ltd with around Tk116.85 crore with per kg sugar costing Tk116.85 while the TCB would purchase another consignment of 10,000 tonnes of sugar through local OTM method from Meghna Sugar Refinery Ltd with around Tk115.85 crore where per kg sugar would cost Tk115.85.

In response to two other proposals from the Ministry of Commerce, the TCB would procure 10,000 tonnes of lentil from Nabil Naba Foods Ltd under local OTM method with around Tk97.97 crore where per kg lentil would cost Tk97.97 while the TCB would purchase another consignment of 10,000 tonnes of lentil from Nabil Naba Foods Ltd under local OTM method with around Tk97.22 crore where per kg lentil would cost Tk97.22.

Following a proposal from the Ministry of Food, the Directorate General of Food would procure 50,000 tonnes of wheat from M/S Agrocorp International Pte Ltd, Singapore under international OTM method with around Tk171.65 crore while per ton fertiliser costing $286.08.

Besides, following two separate proposals from the Ministry of Industries, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) would procure 30,000 tonnes of bagged granular urea fertiliser from KAFCO, Bangladesh with around Tk120.82 crore while the BCIC would purchase another consignment of 30,000 tonnes of bulk granular urea fertiliser from SABIC Agri-nutrients Company, Saudi Arabia with around Tk124.83 crore.