The country's apex trade body on Wednesday called on the traders to refrain from hoarding essential commodities, especially soybean oil, saying that such practices tarnish the image of the business community.

"We request wholesalers and retailers to do business with integrity. About 5.4 million traders cannot take the blame for hoarding and artificial price hike of soybean oil, for which only a handful of unscrupulous traders are responsible," said FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin.

He was speaking at a meeting on import, stock, supply and price situation of soybean oil at the conference room of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) office.

"Please don't go for excessive stockpiling of soybean oil. You cannot stockpile commodities beyond your requirement," he said.

The FBCCI chief called upon the Bangladesh Shop Owners' Association to identify the unscrupulous traders responsible for hoarding soybean oil.

He also urged the law enforcement agencies to take legal action against the traders involved in such malpractice.

"If needed, the government may go for import of soybean oil for the time being to resolve the present crisis," he said.

"The businessmen of the country control 80 per cent of the country's economy. So, the whole business community should not be blamed for bad practices committed by a few unscrupulous traders," he added.

The FBCCI president said the procurement of 20 million litres of soybean oil internally by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) had created some pressure on demand and supply chain.

"I think the TCB should have done this much earlier (one year back)," he said.

Mr Jashim Uddin mentioned that the government should go for price adjustment of soybean oil every 15 days depending on the prices in the international market.

The Trading Corpor-ation of Bangladesh (TCB) had procured 20 million litres of soybean oil for providing those to limited-income group of 10 million families at subsidised rate following a decision taken by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The dealers, wholesalers and retailers urged the government to fix the amount of products that they could keep in stock for certain days without facing any harassment.

Millers at the meeting claimed that they were maintaining regular supply of soybean oil to the dealers.

"During the month of Ramadan, we maintained the smooth supply," Senior General Manager of S Alam Group Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed said at the meeting.

However, the wholesalers and the retailers at the meeting claimed that they were not involved in hoarding soybean oil.

They also urged the millers and the dealers to ensure a smooth supply of soybean oil to wholesalers and retailers to avert any supply crunch.

"We call upon the millers to keep their commitment (about supply of soybean oil to the dealers and wholesalers)," said Golam Maula, a trader of Moulvibazar in the capital.

He recommended resolving the present crisis through discussion between the millers, dealers, wholesalers and the retailers.

President of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) Mahbubul Alam virtually participated in the discussion.