Bottled and non-bottled soybean oil, which went out of stock at most shops about a week ago, remained unavailable in almost all the grocery stores yesterday, a day after the price of the essential cooking ingredient saw a record hike.

Edible oil prices see the biggest increase in Bangladesh’s history as the government moves to put an end to the unprecedented crunch of the essential cooking item.

A banker in Naogaon did not find soybean oil in the local market. A woman in Natore was lucky to score a one-litre bottle for an unusually higher price. A private firm employee in Chattogram decided to make do with mustard oil after failing to find soybean oil in her neighborhood.

The retail prices of non-bottled and bottled soybean and palm oil have gone up by Tk 10-15 per litre overnight due to a supply crunch in the aftermath of Indonesia’s export ban on crude and refined palm oil imposed on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said her government is doing its best to control prices of daily essentials amid the high global inflation rate.

Despite record imports of soybean oil in the first quarter, consumers are having to pay an additional Tk 36-38 for every litre of non-bottled soybean oil over the price set by the government.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) yesterday said the government should frame the budget for the next fiscal year with the main focus on easing the burden of rising prices of essentials and shrinking purchasing power of low, fixed and middle-income families.

Excluded from the government’s social safety net, middle-income families are struggling to cope with the rising prices of basic goods and services.

Experts yesterday called for cracking down on syndicates of traders who hike the prices of essentials during Ramadan like clockwork every year by manufacturing a crisis.

For the last two months, 35-year old security guard Saiful Islam could not send any money to his parents living in a village in Rangpur, one of the poverty-stricken divisions in Bangladesh.

Zahed Sharif, an entrepreneur running an online jewellery store, will not be able to enjoy Ramadan as he did before. “Thanks to soaring prices of everyday commodities, in many households including mine, there will be simpler food on the table,” he said.

Edible oil recently underwent price manipulation at each of the four stages of the value chain within the country involving refiners, dealers or supply order traders, wholesale traders and retailers, according to the Directorate of National Consumers’ Right Protection.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi took heavy flak in the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday for his ministry’s failure to arrest the price hike of daily essentials, which has worsened the plight of limited-income people.

The rising prices of essentials ahead of Ramadan has dealt a fresh blow to the people with limited income.

The prices of loose soybean and palm oil have gone up by Tk 150-200 per maund at Chattogram’s Khatunganj wholesale market overnight for a supply crisis although the importers maintain there is no shortage at their end.

Taking advantage of the government’s laxity, dishonest traders are pocketing huge amounts of money by creating an artificial supply crisis, said speakers yesterday.

Two ministers yesterday said the government has been doing its best to control the high prices of essentials, which is the result of global market instability.

The government yesterday reduced the price of bottled soybean edible oil at the retail level by Tk 8 per litre to Tk 160.

Amid high prices of daily essentials, many in need returned empty-handed from the TCB sales points outside the capital yesterday as they did not have “family cards”.

The prices of edible oil have gone up at the wholesale level yesterday despite the 30 percent tax exemption at the import and production stages.