THE good old tale of the shortage of edible oil repeats, with Ramadan, the month of fasting for the Muslims, likely to begin at February鈥檚 end. While packed or bottled soya bean oil is reported to have been in short supply, it has started selling for prices higher than the official rate. The situation has pushed up prices of packed, including bottled, and unpacked soya bean oil. And, this has happened although soya bean oil prices declined on the international market. World Bank data say that the average price of soya bean oil a tonne declined to $1,061 in January, which is about $3 lower than the December price and about $100 lower than the November price. The Consumers Association of Bangladesh, which says that the supply shortage and price increase are nothing new, has blamed refiners for alleged manipulation of the soya bean oil supply to increase prices for windfall profits. The commerce adviser to the interim government, however, says that the issue would be resolved in a week.
The adviser in Khulna on February 10 said that the government was looking into how traders are hoarding the edible oil and after an assessment, the government would take appropriate measures to resolve the issue. The adviser鈥檚 assurance is difficult to bank on until the government takes effective measures in this direction, especially because there are many such assurances in the past that did not work and the volatility of the oil market surfaced in November 2024 and has continued since then. The government in December 2024 increased prices of soya bean and palm oil by Tk 8 a litre, keeping to the demand of the refiners, who sought the price adjustment with 鈥榞rowing prices鈥� on the international market. The World Bank data, however, show that prices of oil on the international market started declining in November 2024. The government increased the prices consequent on letters repeatedly sent to the Trade and Tariff Commission seeking price increase, but now that the prices on the international market has declined by about $100 a tonne, there are hardly any attempts both on part of the refiners and the government in January to revise down domestic prices to match the declining prices on the world market.
This shows a bias of the government for the traders and against consumers. Whilst the government should immediately resolve the supposedly artificial shortage of edible oil and keep up its oversight, in view of Ramadan approaching, it should also revise the prices to match decline on the world market.
