No legal basis for traders to raise edible oil prices: Commerce Adviser

There is no legal basis for the way traders have increased the price of edible oil, Commerce Adviser Sheikh Bashiruddin has said.

He made the remarks while speaking to reporters at the Secretariat on Wednesday, December 3.

Without any prior announcement, importers and marketing companies quietly raised the retail price of soybean oil, increasing the price by Tk 9 per litre in one jump. When asked about the issue, the adviser said, “The government had no knowledge of the price hike. We learned about it only half an hour ago. The companies acted collectively to raise the price. Such collective action is unacceptable in any way.”

When asked what steps the government would take now, he said, “We will discuss and decide the course of action. There is no legal basis for this.”