The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has waived value added tax (VAT) on refined and unrefined soybean and palm oil to control the price of cooking oil.
An order signed by NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan reduced VAT on cooking oil.
The first order waives the value added tax or VAT of 15 per cent applicable at the production and trading stage of refined and unrefined soybean or palm oil.
In another order, the VAT applicable on import of refined and unrefined soybeans or palm oil has been reduced from 15 per cent to 5 per cent.
In a press release, the Ministry of Commerce said that the price of soybean oil and palm oil was last adjusted on April 18. Soybean oil and palm oil prices have increased continuously in the world market for the past few months.
Of this, crude soybean oil prices increased by 14.8 per cent and palm oil prices by 18.68 per cent.
The price of loose edible oil has risen abnormally due to price hike and supply shortage in the international market. In the last one month, the price of soybean oil has increased by Tk 10 per litre and the price of palm oil has increased by a maximum of Tk 15. However, the price of bottled edible oil has not increased.
Abdul Jabbar, the owner of M/s Jabbar store, a cooking oil trader in Moulvibazar, Dhaka, said that the price of palm oil per litre has been increased by a maximum of Tk 15 in a month. And the price of soybean oil has increased by Tk 10. As the reason for the increase in prices in the international market, the companies have raised the price in the country.
Mojahidul Islam Hira, another cooking oil trader in this market, said that a month ago, the price of one barrel of 204 liters of soybean oil was Tk 29,000. Accordingly, the price per litre was Tk 142.16. Currently it has increased to Tk 31,000. The price per litre is Tk 151.96. A month ago, the price of palm oil was Tk 25,000 per barrel.
According to this, the price per litre was Tk 122.55. Currently, each barrel is being sold at Tk 29,750. That is, the price per barrel has increased by Tk 4,750, per litre has increased by Tk 23.28.
A handful of companies supply cooking oil to the country's market. Among these are CT, Meghna, S Alam, TK, Shabnam, Bashundhara and Butterfly Group. In this, S Alam Group used to sell SO (Supply Order) at relatively low price without delivering the product. At present S Alam Group's import volume has decreased.
According to the calculations of the Ministry of Commerce, the total demand of cooking oil in the country is 2.2 million tonnes. Production in the country is 2.50 lakh tonnes. The import of crude cooking oil in the financial year 2023-24 was 23 lakh tonnes.
