Tariff commission for 25% duties on rice bran oil export

The Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission has recommended imposing a 25 per cent regulatory duties on exporting rice bran oil in a bid to boost the supply in the domestic market.

The commission made the recommendation in a report submitted to the Ministry of Commerce, and the National Board of Revenue, NBR.

The commission also suggested that the Ministry of Commerce should make it mandatory to take approval from the ministry before exporting all kinds of rice bran oil subject to the recommendation of the commission.

The report said currently bottled soybean oil is sold at Tk 175 per litre and loose soybean at Tk 168 a litre, while rice bran oil is sold at Tk 195-205 a litre.

The commission said, in the 2019-20 fiscal year, 25 per cent regulatory duties were imposed on exporting rice bran to reduce its export. But there are no duties on the oil. That is why, a lot of rice bran oil is exported to the neighbouring country. However, the oil may play a role to increase the supply of edible oil in the local market.

It is possible to produce 7-7.50 lakh tonnes of unprocessed rice bran oil through processing rice bran that will meet 25-30 per cent of domestic demand, the commission suggested in the report.

If the supply of rice bran oil rises amid growing demand of edible oil in the upcoming Ramadan, it will play a positive role to keep the market stable, the commission observed.

NH/MSU/NMA