BOTH rice bran oil and obtained oil from locally produced seeds equally contribute to meet the demand of edible oil. But the rice bran obtained from quantity of paddy produced in a year to produce oil may increase the contribution of rice bran oil to meet the demand. Hence, the contribution of the rice bran oil would be more than that of the locally produced seeds. The demand for edible oil in Bangladesh is met in every year with import of crude soya bean and crude palm oils along with a little quantity of refined oil. Contribution of locally produced mustard, sesame, ground nut and linseed to the production of edible oils are very negligible. In refining, 4.25 per cent of the total import of crude soya bean and palm oils is wasted. And, 0.35 tonnes of oil is obtained from one tonne of seeds.
The production capacity of the rice bran oil Industry is 453,000 tonnes in a year. But they produce 286,000 tonnes and, thus, use 63.13 per cent of the production capacity. Bangladesh produces 55.2 million tonnes of paddy in the year 2024鈥�25, as US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Services says. From this paddy, it is possible to produce 36.9 million tonnes of rice, 13.2 tonnes of husk, 1.104 million tonnes of dust and broken rice and 3.864 tonnes of rice bran. In order to use the full capacity of the industry, about 2.28 millions tonnes of rice bran and about 32.5 million tonnes of paddy are required. On the other hand, to produce 286,000 tonnes of rice bran oil, 1.439 tonnes of rice bran is required and, the paddy required is about 20.5 million tonnes. This is figures are show in a table.
It is observed that 59 per cent of the paddy produced can be used to run the industry in its full capacity. Besides, the current production is around 286,000 tonnes. In order to produce this quantity of refined rice bran oil, 37.14 per cent of the paddy produced is required. But the use of probable obtained rice bran of 3.864 tonnes, as mentioned in the table, may increase the contribution of rice bran oil to meet the demand of edible oils. In this case, there is the necessity to increase the production capacity of rice bran oil industry.
The estimated population of Bangladesh is 173,562,364 as of 2024. Based on per capita consumption of 40 grams of edible oil a day, or 14.6 kilograms a year, the demand will be 2,534,010 tonnes. The edible oil produced from local seeds and rice bran can meet 11.84 per cent and 11.29 per cent respectively, in total accounting for 23.13 per cent of the demand. Using the full capacity of the industry, the production of rice bran oil would increase to 453,232 tonnes to meet 17.88 per cent of the demand. Therefore, in total about 29.72 per cent of the demand for edible oil can be met with locally produced seeds and rice bran. The full use of available rice bran can increase the percentage.
Rice bran is one of the main by-products of rice milling. Rice husk is generated in the first stage of milling, when paddy is husked. Rice bran is produced during the second stage of milling when brown rice moves through the whiteners and polishers and the bran layer is removed from the brown rice kernel. When paddy is milled in a one-pass steel huller, rice bran is not produced separately but mixed with rice hulls. Rice bran is a light red upper part covering of the rice under the husk of paddy. Whenever rice bran is obtained, it must be sent to the mill as soon as possible for extraction because of chance of a decline in quality. In case of long-time preservation, the quantity of fatty acid increases. Besides, rice bran is used for poultry and fish feed, too.
There are three types of rice mills, about 18,700, running in Bangladesh: manual, semi-automatic (angle burg huller) and automatic. Sixty-six per cent of the total paddy produced is used by manual mills to produce rice bran. The remaining 34 per cent is used by semi-automatic and automatic rice mills. Ninety per cent of the total rice mills are manual and the remaining 10 per cent are semi-automatic and automatic mills.
De-oil rice bran and crude rice bran oil are obtained after the extraction of rice bran. De-oil rice bran can be used as a raw material for producing poultry and fish feed. In the process of refining the crude rice bran oil, gum and wax are obtained which are used in the soap industry. After de-gumming, dew waxing and de-odorisation, refined rice bran oil is obtained.
To produce a tonne of crude rice bran oil, 4.54 tonnes of rice bran is required and 22 per cent of rice bran produces crude oil and the remaining 78 per cent produces de-oil rice bran. In order to produce crude rice bran oil, 84 per cent of the total cost is incurred on rice bran and about 7 per cent is incurred on chemicals. The chemicals are hexane, bleaching earth, carbon, phosphoric acid and citric acid. The total tax incidence on the chemicals range from 5 per cent to 37 per cent.
The table shows that about 37 per cent of the obtained rice bran is used by the rice bran oil industry. The remaining is used as feed of poultry or fish. This happens because of manual mills, which cannot separate rice hull as expected. When paddy is hand-pounded or milled in a one-pass steel huller, rice bran is not produced separately. It is, therefore, imperative to replace manual rice mills with semi-automatic or automatic rice mills. Besides, rice mills are located on various locations which takes about a week to carry bran to the rice bran oil industries. The shortage of raw materials, low demand and competition with prices of soya bean and palm oils is the main problem of the industry. But, a Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council research finds that around 25 per cent of the rice bran oil available on the market is of low quality. There is a huge demand for rice bran oil in European countries. But factories in Bangladesh cannot produce the high-quality oil that European countries want. There has also been low demand for rice bran oil in Bangladesh because of the novelty of the product.
The cost for producing crude rice bran oil and then refined rice bran oil is high because of the under-use of the production capacity, high price of the chemicals used in producing refined rice bran oil and the unavailability of rice bran on the domestic market. There is, therefore, no duty on the import of rice bran and 25 per cent export duty has been imposed on the export of rice bran. Crude and refined rice bran oil is imported at 37 per cent of the total tax incidence and there is no export duty imposed on the export of crude and refined bran oil. Crude and refined rice bran oils are imported or exported using the same harmonised system code.
The export of rice bran has been discouraged by imposing export duty. Rice bran oil produced locally, but the producers do not get rice bran. It is mostly used as poultry and fish feed; and rice mills cannot produce rice bran because of their manual operation. The by-product of the rice bran oil industry are de-oil rice bran, gum and wax. De-oil rice bran can be used in the poultry and fish feed industry rather than rice bran. Gum and wax are used in the soap industry. Rice bran oil cannot, therefore, meet the demand of edible oils. Besides, rice bran and oil seeds are indigenous raw materials for edible oils.
But with proper policies having been in put in place, foreign exchange can be saved to some extent by using these indigenous raw materials. Efforts can, therefore, be made to increase the demand for rice bran oil by ensuring the availability of rice bran. Resorting to semi-automatic or automatic rice mills, the awareness among customers of the rice bran oil, improvement in the quality of rice bran oil, the establishment of rice bran oil and increasing the production capacity, increase in the use of de-oil rice bran in the poultry industry and increase in oil seed production are required to increase the demand for rice bran oil. Successful efforts can increase the contribution of rice bran oil to meeting the demand for edible oils.
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Abdul Quaiyum is a former member of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission.