BOMA for withdrawing RD on mustard seeds

Bangladesh Oil Mills Association (BOMA) has urged the government for removing regulatory duty (RD) on rapeseed and mustard seeds for the interests of both the consumers and the local industry.

The government has imposed a 5.0 per cent regulatory duty (RD) on importing rapeseed/mustards, HS Code: 1205.10.10 and 1205, 10.90 in the proposed budget for the next financial year (FY’22).

BOMA sent a letter in this regard to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on June 06 requesting them to remove the RD following the rocketing price trend of edible oil, an official at the commerce ministry said.

The Association in its letter said the country’s oil mills produce rapeseed/mustard oils by collecting seeds both from local farmers and imports.

It said the government on one hand raised import duty on rapeseed/mustard and on the other hand, it reduced import duty on rapeseed extractions (HS Code: 2306.49.00) which will severely hit local oil mills who hardly could survive.

The letter said mustard oil has largely been meeting edible oil demand when soybean and palm oil prices have been fuelling in the globe.

The letter said local oil mills could meet the demand for rapeseed extractions needed for the poultry and animal feed industry.

Reducing duty on rapeseed extraction will affect the local industry, according to the BOMA letter.

However, Bangladeshi mills extract 0.25 to 0.27 million tonnes of rapeseed/mustard oil annually both from locally produced and imported seeds.

Edible oil prices have increased by 40-70 per cent in last one year in the country as soybean oil was selling at Tk 135-153 a litre and palm oil at Tk 112-122 a litre, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

However, mustard oil prices are static for last three months as loose oil was selling at Tk 145-170 a litre and branded bottled oil at Tk 220-260 a litre.

The prices of mustard oil might rise in the domestic market if the RD is not removed, said BOMA.

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