BANGLADESH

The government will set the maximum retail price of edible oil on Thursday after talks with traders.

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) president Abul Kalam Azad, following a meeting with commerce minister G M Quader at his Secretariat office on Tuesday, told reporters that chairman of Tariff Commission of Bangladesh (TCB) Mojibur Rahman would chair the meeting.

Earlier in the day, the commerce minister held a meeting with traders following the hike in edible oil prices across the country. The meeting ended without a decision.

The minister nor the commerce secretary talked to the media on the issue.

The government on July 20 fixed the maximum retail price of sugar at Tk 65 per kilogram, and loose palm and soybean oil at Tk 99 and Tk 109 per litre, respectively.

According to TCB, per litre loose soybean oil was sold at Tk 124 to 128 and per kilogram sugar at Tk 56 to 57 in the retail markets of the city on Tuesday.

The chief of the country's apex trade body, Azad said that the prices will be reset at Thursday's meeting after revising the import costs of the oil traders and their tax calculations.

He said since July, some one million metric tonnes of edible oil had been imported to date, while there was a market of 1.4 million metric tonnes edible oil in the country this year.

Pointing out that the sugar traders had since long been seeking certain benefits in the export of the commodity, the FBCCI president said, "There is a capacity of producing 3.5 metric tonnes sugar a year against a demand of only 1.4 million metric tonnes."

Before the export of sugar, he said the FBCCI would ensure an assurance from the traders to keep the internal markets stable.

"We'll recommend to the commerce ministry in this regard only when the traders assure us on the issue," he added.