Ghee and Cooking Oil Minimum Price 2026: What SRO 1632 and SRO 1631 Mean for Digital Invoicing
SRO 1632(I)/2026 sets a ghee and cooking oil minimum price. Mills on FBR digital invoicing and production monitoring get Rs 25/kg off and 95% input tax.
What this guide tells you, in plain words
This guide explains two new FBR notices for ghee and cooking oil makers, both dated 18 September 2026. One sets a minimum price for sales tax. The other lets some mills use more of their input tax. Both give their benefit only to mills that use FBR digital invoicing and FBR's production monitoring.
SRO 1632(I)/2026 fixes the minimum value of ghee and cooking oil made in Pakistan. (An SRO, or Statutory Regulatory Order, is a notice that puts the tax law into practice.) Sales tax cannot be charged on less. For September 2026 the minimum is Rs 588 per kg or litre for Category A brands. It is Rs 547 for Category B and Rs 500 for Category C. These figures include a Rs 25 per kg cut that only digitally compliant mills get. The notice runs until the November 2026 tax period.
SRO 1631(I)/2026 changes the input tax limit. Input tax is the sales tax you paid on your purchases. Output tax is the sales tax you charge on your sales. Normally you may set off input tax only up to 90% of your output tax each month. For compliant oil and ghee suppliers, SRO 1631 raises this to 95% until 30 November 2026.
The message is simple. In 2026, FBR keeps linking lower tax to digital compliance. Steel mills got a similar deal in July. See 'Steel Sales Tax on Electricity: Rs 5 vs Rs 30 per Unit and Why FBR Integration Decides It (SRO 1245(I)/2026)'.
How the minimum price is worked out, with FBR's own numbers
The starting point is the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS — the government office that tracks prices). Every week PBS publishes the SPI (Sensitive Price Indicator — a list of prices of everyday items in major cities). FBR takes the average national retail price of ghee and cooking oil from the last week of the previous month.
The notice gives a worked example for August 2026, using PBS prices of 26 July 2026. A 5-litre pack cost Rs 3,067, which is Rs 613 a litre. A 2.5-litre pack cost Rs 1,550, which is Rs 620 a litre. A 1-litre pack cost Rs 606. The average of the three is Rs 613. Take away Rs 25 and you get Rs 588 per kg or litre.
Next, the brand category is applied to that figure. Category A is 100%: Dalda, Habib, Sufi, Mezan, Soya Supreme and EVA. Category B is 93%: Manpasand, Habib Handi, Seasons, Kashmir, Kausar, Shah Taj, Kisan, Shafaq and Sultan. Category C is 85% and covers every other brand. So the September 2026 floors are Rs 588 for A, Rs 547 for B and Rs 500 for C, per kg or litre.
Four more rules matter. First, the floor already includes sales tax, so compare it with your own price including tax. Second, if you sell above the floor, tax is charged on your higher price. The floor never lowers your tax. Third, supplies to the armed forces use the price in the contract. Fourth, the floor changes every month. For October and November 2026, work it out again from PBS figures for the last week of the month before.
A mill that does not meet the digital conditions does not get the Rs 25 cut. In FBR's own example, its Category A floor stays at the full Rs 613. The cut only saves tax when your own price is below the full floor.
The 95% input tax limit: what SRO 1631 changes
Section 8B of the Sales Tax Act 1990 sets a monthly cap. You may set off input tax only up to 90% of your output tax. So you always pay at least 10% of your output tax in cash. Input tax above the cap is carried forward to the next month. It is not lost, but your cash is stuck until you can use it.
FBR lists the exceptions in SRO 1190(I)/2019. Its Table-1 names sectors with no cap at all. Its Table-2 names persons who may go up to 95%. In 2020, FBR added Tier-1 retailers who had linked their point-of-sale systems to FBR. SRO 1631(I)/2026 now adds a new serial 4 to Table-2. The Finance Act 2026 also lets FBR raise or cut this cap based on digital compliance.
Serial 4 covers a registered person who meets three conditions. The person follows FBR digital invoicing and FBR's production monitoring system. The person supplies oil and ghee. And the person pays sales tax on the retail price under serial 56 of the Third Schedule. (That is the list of goods taxed on their printed retail price.) The entry lasts until 30 November 2026.
Here is a simple example. A ghee mill charges Rs 1,000,000 of output tax in a month. It paid Rs 980,000 of input tax on oil and packing. At 90%, it sets off Rs 900,000, pays Rs 100,000 in cash and carries Rs 80,000 forward. At 95%, it sets off Rs 950,000, pays Rs 50,000 and carries only Rs 30,000 forward. That is Rs 50,000 more cash in hand that month.
Input tax only counts if the supplier's invoice is genuine and reported to FBR. 'How to Check a Supplier Before Claiming Input Tax: FBR Invoice, ATL & Registration Checks (2026)' shows the checks to run before you claim.
What this means for your FBR digital invoices
Both benefits need two systems, not one. Digital invoicing alone is not enough. Your mill must also be on FBR's production monitoring system. This is the video camera and analytics system FBR ordered for oil and ghee, packaged milk and steel makers under SRO 880(I)/2026. 'FBR Track & Trace vs Digital Invoicing: Two Different Systems Explained (2026)' explains how FBR's systems differ.
Oil and ghee in retail packs are Third Schedule goods. On an FBR digital invoice, use the '3rd Schedule Goods' sale type. An FBR digital invoice goes to FBR in real time. It comes back with an IRN (Invoice Reference Number — FBR's unique number for each invoice) and a QR code. Put the retail price in the 'Fixed/Notified Value or Retail Price' field and set the value-excluding-tax field to 0. FBR checks that your tax is 18% of that price. A wrong tax amount gives error 0102. An empty retail price field gives error 0090.
Now add the floor. Before you post, compare your price per kg or litre with the floor for your category and month. If your price is lower, the tax must be worked out on the floor, not on your price. FBR's Digital Invoicing system also has an error for this case: 0059, 'declared price (sale value) is less than minimum notified price'. 'FBR Digital Invoicing Error Codes: The Complete Reference (0001–0402)' lists every code.
Keep a small file for each month: the PBS SPI page you used, your floor working, and your invoices with their IRNs. If an officer asks how you valued your supplies, you can show it in minutes. 'FBR STGO 08 of 2026: Printed Retail Price and Sales Tax on 56 Third Schedule Items — What Makers, Importers and Shops Must Do' covers the retail price rules. 'How Sales Tax Is Calculated on an FBR Digital Invoice: The Formulas FBR Actually Validates' shows the maths.
Digi Invoice has the Third Schedule sale types built in. You enter the retail price. The platform works out the 18%, posts the line to FBR and prints the IRN and QR code. Create a free account. Test in the sandbox first (FBR's free practice system where test invoices do not count as real).
Difficult words in this guide
SRO (Statutory Regulatory Order) — a notice issued by FBR or the government to put the tax law into practice.
Minimum value — the lowest value on which sales tax can be charged, even if you sell for less.
PBS SPI — the weekly Sensitive Price Indicator of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, a list of prices of everyday items.
Input tax and output tax — the sales tax you paid on purchases, and the sales tax you charge on sales.
Production monitoring — FBR's cameras and software that count what a factory produces, in real time.
Third Schedule — a list in the Sales Tax Act 1990 of goods taxed on their printed retail price.