The customers will be able to purchase soybean oil at Tk 163 a litre from tomorrow (March 3) , a Tk 10 down from the existing rate.

Commerce Minister Ahsanul Islam Titu has disclosed this information apart from mentioning that the daily commodities market will be regulated even outside Ramadan.

On Saturday (March 2), while speaking with journalists at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center, Ahsanul Islam Titu revealed these details at an event organized by the 'Association of Grassroot Women Entrepreneurs Bangladesh'.

The minister said, "Monitoring of edible oil has started from yesterday. All teams are engaged in monitoring at all mill gates since this morning. Letters have already been sent regarding how much goods they have imported after reducing the tariff and how much time has been taken to create buffer stock. I believe starting from tomorrow, every liter bottle of soybean oil will be sold at Tk 163. And open soybean oil will be sold at Tk 149 per liter."

The Commerce Minister also mentioned that during the bilateral meeting in the WTO, India's Commerce Minister assured us of removing the ban on onion. "He has given directions there to lift the ban, and we have received that letter yesterday. We will start receiving 50 thousand tons of onion from the country within this week."

He said, "Our target is to prevent consumers from buying products at higher prices during Ramadan. I have sent a letter to reduce VAT-tax on oil, which will have an impact during Ramadan. There are nearly 10 types of dates. I have given businessmen one month's time to reduce prices. The decision on raising the price of imported dates will be made tomorrow. I hope that prices will decrease later, that is, from this week, the maximum wholesale and retail prices will be determined, which will reduce prices."

The minister said, "We will solve the problems of businessmen, but we will not listen to any lame excuses. Without logical reasons, there is no opportunity to exclude any essential product from the market during Ramadan. Our target is not only Ramadan; the market of everyday commodities will remain normal even after Ramadan." 

The Prime Minister's directive will not allow any businessman or group to take advantage, he said, adding one crore people of TCB will get subsidized prices including oil and sugar.

BDST: 1405 HRS, MAR 02, 2024
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