The government of Bangladesh on Sunday decided to reduce the price of edible oil, considering the price reduction in the international market, senior secretary to the Ministry of Commerce, Tapan Kanti Ghosh, said on Sunday.

The price of bottled soybean oil has been reduced by Tk 10 per liter to Tk 189, and loose soybean oil will now cost Tk 167 per litre.

Meanwhile, the price of palm oil has been reduced by Tk 2 per litre to Tk 133, the senior secretary said after the 7th meeting of the Task Force on Review of Commodity Prices and Market Situation at the conference room of the Ministry of Commerce at the Secretariat.

The price reduction will come into effect ‘within a few days,’ he said.

The commerce secretary said: ‘Many issues were discussed in today’s meeting, including the prices of soybean oil, onion, ginger and garlic. We’ve also discussed the current import situation.’

‘We’ve already reduced the price of onion after the decision to allow imports,’ he said.

The commerce secretary also said the price of edible oil might reduce further in the next 15 days, based on the reduction in price in the international market.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, there is a demand for 20 lakh tonnes of edible oil annually in the country. Of this, the demand during the holy month of Ramadan is close to 3 lakh tonnes. Around 200,000 tons are produced locally, while the remainder is imported.