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Cooking oil prices heat up

Sohel Parvez
Millers increased the prices of cooking oil yesterday on a rise in the prices of palm and soybean oils on the international market.
They blamed the hike partly on transport costs, high bank interest rates and higher cost of packaging materials.
The price of bottled oil rose by Tk 2 a litre.
The price of a five-litre container was raised by 2.36 percent to Tk 650, according to officials of two major processors.
The wholesale market for loose soybean and palm oil also experienced the impact of the hike by the processors.
Retail prices of loose cooking oil also went up, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
"Soybean oil prices have increased on the international market," said Biswajit Saha, general manager of a major commodity processor — City Group of Industries -- that sells Teer brand cooking oil.
Soybean prices are rising as a heat wave has reduced production in South America, a key soybean producing zone. Palm oil prices have also advanced on global trade.
A depreciation of the taka and increased bank interest rates also contributed to the rise in the costs. "We have sent all necessary papers to Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) before raising the prices," hesaid.
As per rules, processors need to send the cost estimate to BTC prior to increasing the prices.
Shoeb Md Asaduzzaman, head of sales and marketing of Bangladesh Edible Oil Ltd (BEOL), said the company increased prices of its two-litre and five-litre containers, keeping the price of its one-litre bottle unchanged.
"Our carrying costs to bring crude soybean from Chittagong Port to the processing plant have increased. Dis-
tribution costs after processing soared as well because of a spike in fuel costs,” he said.
The BEOL official also blamed increased costs for PET bottles for the hike in prices of its raw materials. Another main factor is inflation, he added.
"Due to double-digit inflation, we had to hike salaries and wages earlier this year. It also contributed to an increase in our operational cost.”
Increased soybean oil prices caused the wholesale prices of loose soybean and palm oil to go up, said Mohammad Ali Bhutto, general secretary of the cooking oil wholesalers' association.
A maund (37.32 kilograms) of soybean was traded higher at Tk 4,620 yesterday from Tk 4,480 a week ago. Palm oil prices rose to Tk 4,010 a maund fromTk3,850.
sohel@thedailystar.net