With spiked prices, cooking oil returns to city markets    

The country's edible oil refiners have started supplying soybean oil to big markets in Dhaka and Chattogram at new prices, easing the ongoing oil crisis.

But the supply of cooking oil in other district towns and rural areas has not yet stabilised.      

On a Sunday visit to the capital's Karwanbazar kitchen market, The Business Standard (TBS) found Fresh and Pusti brands of cooking oil available in the shops at 11am. 

The shopkeepers said the companies began supplying soybean oil on Sunday morning. There were one litre bottles and five litre containers, but there was little supply of bulk or loose soybean and palm oil.  

Salesman Monir Hossain of Babul Traders in Karwanbazar said the companies supplied one litre bottles and five litre containers in the morning at the newly set price. 

Although the  supply of soybean oil is at a normal level in the big kitchen markets of Dhaka, supply is still low in local neighbourhoods and many traders are not willing to buy soybean oil due to the exorbitantly high prices.

Meanwhile, officials of the consumers' rights protection directorate were vigilant in keeping the supply smooth and uninterrupted.     

Taslim Shahriar, Senior AGM, Meghna Group of Industries, told TBS they had been supplying soybean oil since morning and were prepared to supply in greater quantities than usual.    

Our TBS Chattogram correspondent also confirmed the increased supply of soybean oil since Saturday. 

Meanwhile, on Saturday night, a mobile court recovered 2328 litres of soybean oil from a house of businessman Akter Hossain, resident of Dakkhin Gazaria in Baganbazar union of Chattogram. The court fined him Tk40,000 and asked him to sell that oil within the next 24 hours. 

Upazila Assistant Commissioner (land) and executive magistrate Alamgir Hossain conducted the drive.

Meanwhile, in another drive, Directorate of National Consumers' Right Protection Sunday recovered 1500 litres of soybean oil from a warehouse at the CDA Karnaphuli market at Chowmohony in Chattogram. 

The mobile court also fined the hoarder and owner of Khaza Store Tk40,000 for creating artificial crisis in the market by illegally storing cooking oil. 

Assistant Director of Chattogram Divisional office of the directorate Anisur Rahman conducted the drive Sunday afternoon.

He told TBS that they had conducted drives at Bahaddarhat and Chowmohony to monitor the crisis erupted in the market centering oil when 1500 litres oil were recovered.  

Elsewhere, from Barisal, our TBS correspondent said there is still a cooking oil crisis as supply is not stable yet and may take a few more days.

Edible oil refiners stopped supplying cooking oil awaiting market price adjustment against the backdrop of rising edible oil prices in the international market, triggering a cooking oil crisis across the country ahead of Eid.

The government set the new prices for soybean oil soon after Eid where the retail price of a one litre bottle of soybean oil is now Tk198, a five litre container Tk985, loose soybean oil Tk180 a litre, and palm oil, Tk172 a litre.  ###