Import tariffs for egg, edible oil slashed

The interim government has cut the duties on importing egg and edible oil by 17% and 5% respectively to ease the price pressures on consumers, Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Majumder said at a press briefing Tuesday.

All value added taxes (VAT) on different types of edible oils have also been scrapped, he said, following demands by top oil refiners to reduce duties due to double-digit rises in crude edible oil prices globally over the past five months.

In a meeting on Tuesday afternoon, government officials also agreed with egg producers and wholesalers that eggs will be transported directly from farms to wholesale depots in Dhaka city starting Wednesday – thereby avoiding price hikes by middlemen.

Earlier, the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners Association had proposed waiving import tariffs for edible oil and withdrawing VATs at production and distribution stages – for easing the consumer inflation pressures.

To justify their demand, they claimed crude soybean oil prices have risen nearly 15% while RBD palm oil price rose 18.68% in international markets over the past few months.