STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Traders in their bid to make a quick buck are siphoning out soybean oil from sealed 5-litre containers and selling the cooking oil in loose form while others are hoarding the oil driving the prices up in retail.

As edible oil has become expensive in the international market in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, dishonest traders have started creating an artificial crisis here.

Prices of edible oil have shot up and gone beyond the government’s fixed rates at retail, and the consumers as always are paying the price.

Yesterday, a litre of loose soybean oil was going for Tk 175 per litre, 22 percent higher than the government’s fixed rate of Tk 143, according to market prices data compiled by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Interestingly, the 5-litre containers were selling for Tk 830, still 4.4 percent higher than the government fixed rate of Tk 795, and the per litre cost was about Tk 10 cheaper than loose soybean oil.

This prompted retailers to start selling oil of the containers in loose form.

They also sold bottled super palm oil at higher than the government determined rates yesterday.

A section of traders is hoarding bottled soybean oil claiming supply shortage to make huge profits in the coming weeks, when they expect the prices to go up even further.

A shopkeeper at Krishi Market in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur refused to sell 5-litre containers of the cooking oil to this correspondent on March 1 even though several containers were seen stacked in the store.

Yesterday at a media briefing, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said government agencies have discovered that a group of traders were selling loose oil taking the oil from sealed containers to make more profit.