Consumers yet to benefit from soybean oil price cut

Summary:

• Bottled soybean oil price reduced to Tk178 per litre
• Yet, it is Tk192 in many retail shops
• Weakness in market monitoring key reason, say stakeholders

The prices of soybean oil have not fallen in retail even four days after the government slashed the price by Tk14 per litre in line with the gradual price fall of the essential cooking item in the global market.

The government, in a meeting with the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers' Association, fixed the prices of a litre of bottled soybean oil at Tk178 and five litres at Tk880, and a litre of non-bottled oil at Tk158 on Monday last with an effect from the next day (4 October).

Retailers said they are forced to sell soybean oil at the previous rates as they are yet to receive new-priced oil from manufacturers.

On the delay, edible oil suppliers said it would take a few more days to become new-priced oil available in retail. "We are preparing to release soybean oil at government-set prices. Hopefully, consumers will get those soon," said Amitav Chakrabarty, advisor of City Group – one of the key importers of edible oil.

"We are also planning to relabel bottles of oil that are already in markets," he told The Business Standard.

On Friday, a litre of bottled soybean of all brands sold at the previous price of Tk192 in Chattogram markets, while the prices of a five-litre bottle of Rupchada was Tk950, Teer Tk945, Pusti, Fresh and Bashundhara Tk940.

"Until now, no company has supplied new-priced soybean oil. All the bottles I have bought in the last few days are labelled with previous prices, which is why I have no option to sell those at lower prices," said Mohammad Enamul Haque, a retailer in Chattogram's Kazi Deuri area.

Many other retailers also said so.

"Consumers are yet to benefit from the soybean oil price cut even in four days as traders have not cut the prices immediately following the government decision. They, however, are very fast in increasing prices," said SM Nazer Hossain, vice-president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh.

"It is mainly due to the weakness of our regulatory agencies," he told TBS and called for strong market monitoring.

When contacted, Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection Chattogram Division Deputy Director Mohammad Foyez Ullah, said they are yet to receive any complaint regarding edible oil prices. "We, however, will soon launch a drive at the retail level to check the anomalies," he added.