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Traders have proposed the waiver of the existing 5 per cent import duty on edible oil, along with the value-added tax (VAT) imposed at the production and trading levels.
The proposal was made during a meeting on Tuesday between edible oil traders and Commerce Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed at his office, according to the ministry's spokesperson Md Kamal Hossain.
The ministry plans to forward these recommendations to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) which will then decide on the necessary actions, bdnews24.com reports.
An NBR official said: “We have already started working on this. We are analysing its impact on consumers and the extent of revenue loss.”
“If we see consumer benefits, we will adjust accordingly,” he added.
Currently, soybean import duties include a 5 per cent advance tax and a 15 per cent VAT at the production and trade levels.
The NBR had already zeroed out customs duties for edible oil, and there are no regulatory duties in place.
However, for palm oil, the customs duty was recently reduced from 10 per cent to 1 per cent through a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO).
The VAT on imports was last reduced on February 7 this year.
Ahead of Ramadan, the NBR issued a notification, lowering the VAT on soybean and palm oil imports from 15 per cent to 10 per cent.
The benefit ended on April 15, leading edible oil traders to announce a price increase of Tk 10 per kg the following day.
According to a press release from the commerce ministry, the last price adjustment for soybean and palm oil occurred on April 18.
Over the past few months, the global prices of soybean and palm oil have risen steadily, with crude soybean oil increasing by 14.8 per cent and RBD palm oil by 18.68 per cent.
The Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association said waiving such duties would allow existing edible oil prices to remain stable without further increases.
They had previously submitted a request for price adjustments to the commerce ministry.