The commerce ministry has recommended a subsidy facility on export of six items produced from rice bran in a bid to help the producers survive the competition.
It has recently requested the financé ministry to take necessary steps for including the six items in a related list of the central bank as agro products, sources said.
Currently, agro products and agro processing items enjoy a 20 per cent subsidy against their exports.
The commerce ministry thinks the production of rice bran oil is higher than palm and soybean oil. Besides, recently the government increased export duty to 25 per cent from 10 per cent.
For this reason, the government should provide the export subsidy for survival of this domestic emerging sector, it added.
Presently, the local producers are exporting rice bran oil, both crude and refined, de-oiled rice bran (DORB), rice bran fatty acid, rice bran oil cake and other clay, a source said.
Neighbouring India is the major importer of Bangladesh’s crude rice bran oil, it added.
China, Belgium, Romania, Austria, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ireland and France also have imported some rice bran items including oil from Bangladesh.
Against the backdrop of soaring prices of edible oil in the country, the government is now working on how to ramp up rice bran oil production.
If possible, it will cut dependence on the widely-consumed soybean and palm oils, according to the commerce ministry.
There are 17 rice bran oil mills in the country, according to Bangladesh Rice Bran Oil Mills Association (BRBOMA). The mills have the rice bran processing capacity of over 1.63 million tonnes annually. Only three mills are in operation in the country.
At present, there is a negligible demand for rice bran oil in the local market. Only 800 tonnes of refined rice bran oil enter the local market every month.
The country produces 0.343 million tonnes of crude rice bran oil annually and it is possible to raise the production volume to 0.514 million tonnes, sources said.