The government has approved the purchase of another 2 crore 9 lakh liters of soybean oil for the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), a government selling agency. It will cost 334 crore 39 lakh taka. Apart from this, 8 thousand tons of lentils will be bought for the organization at 81 crore 58 lakh taka.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over this approval in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Procurement which was held virtually on Wednesday. Additional Secretary of the Cabinet Division Syed Mahbub Khan told reporters at the end of the meeting that the proposals were approved in view of the holy Ramadan.

Syed Mahbub Khan said that 10 million liters of soybean oil will be imported from Oman. 151 crore 74 lakh taka will be spent for this. That is, the cost per liter will be 152 taka 86 paisa. And 4.4 lakh liters of soybean oil will be purchased directly from Sena Edible Oil for TCB. It will cost 81 crore 18 lakh taka. That is, the price per liter will be 184 taka 50 paisa. Another 5.5 million liters of soybean oil will be purchased from Shun Shing Edible Oil Limited through direct purchase method. 101 crore 47 lakh taka will be spent for this. In this case, the price per liter will be 184 taka 50 paisa.

In response to the question why the cost of soybean oil import from Oman is decreasing, Syed Mahbub Khan said that there was no discussion like that. So it cannot be said.
If we divide the amount by the total rupees, the price per liter is even lower, i.e. 137 rupees 94 paise. When informed about the matter, Syed Mahbub Khan told the reporters that it is a calculation of the dollar rate. When asked which company will supply the soybean oil, he said, the name of the company is not available at the moment. It was later revealed that the name of the company was Jad Al Raheel International LLC Sultanate.

Meanwhile, approval has been given to purchase eight thousand tons of lentils from India’s Arbel Bakliat Hububat Santiq AS through open tender. 81 crore 57 lakh 68 thousand taka will be spent for this. BINQ is the local agent of Arbel Bakliat Hububat Santiq AS.

TCB is selling 2 kg of lentils, 1 kg of sugar and 2 kg of onion along with 2 liters of soybean oil under TCB’s family card. Soybean oil is being sold at Tk 110 per liter. Accordingly, the government will have to give a subsidy of around 75-80 rupees per litre.

Before the purchase committee meeting held today, a proposal to purchase 22.2 million liters of soybean oil for TCB at Tk 345.35 million was approved on November 30. At that time, the price of oil per liter was 156.98 taka. Earlier, on November 3, a proposal to purchase 5.5 million liters of soybean oil for TCB was approved at Tk 162.94. And on October 19, the purchase committee approved the proposal to purchase 10 million liters of soybean oil for TCB at the rate of Tk 171.85 per liter.