Soybean oil price may fall 25% if war ends: City Group chairman

City Group Chairman Fazlur Rahman has said the prices of soybean oil may decline by $500 a tonne from over $2,000 if the war on Ukraine is over.

He was responding to a reporter at a press briefing on “Edible oil market management,” at the commerce ministry in Dhaka on Monday.

Rahman said the mill owners are not responsible for the acute crisis of cooking oil in the market amid the Eid holidays and in the days that followed.

He said had the prices increased in the month of Ramadan, the market would have turned into a battlefield. He said a family needs a litre of cooking oil per week and that if it were the Ramadan month, a family would have needed more oil.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, TCB Chairman Brigadier General Ariful Hasan were present, among others.

The City Group chairman said that when the prices of edible oil go up, the government releases some of its stock to the refiners to cool down the market. It is then the market gets stable.

He said the prices of edible oil has been increased by Tk 38 per litre and it has been decided that one litre of cooking oil will be sold at Tk 198. The decision was made on May 5.

Rahman said the international price of soybean oil as of Monday was $2,050 a tonne. He claimed as per international price, one litre of oil should come around Tk 222. He further said prices of edible oil rose quite slowly during the Ramadan.

He looked agitated as reporters threw volleys of questions. He did not entertain all of the journalists’ queries.

Without explanation, he said it is the retailers who are spiralling the prices.

He informed the reporters that the price of palm oil has declined by $200 per tonne, but for some reason its sale has not increased.

One tonne of edible palm oil is selling at $1,750 in the international market from its earlier price of $1,950.

The chairman of one of the top conglomerates in the country said he was too sick to attend the press conference.

“I’m not physically well, but I’m still coming.”

He blamed bank closure during Friday and Saturday amid Eid holidays for the crisis of soybean oil.

“We have given instructions to our team for arranging transports and ensuring smooth supplies and deliveries of soybean oil,” he said.

The chairman of City Group said a brief price event is posted on the bottle informing the consumers about the international price, cost of local production, etc.

“If someone deletes the information, he/she should be held responsible.”

He said he had told the commerce minister to summon him anytime and he would be there to “work with the minister.”

“We need money, but we are looking towards the next generation to become good businessmen.”