September 21, 2011

Bangladesh imports more wheat

Bangladesh will likely ship in 600,000 more tonnes of wheat in the approaching months, tripling the amount for this fiscal year, according to the director of the Directorate General of Food, the country's procurement division Tuesday (Sep 20).

Bangladesh has imported 300,000 tonnes of wheat so far in the year that began July 1, Mohammad Badrul Hassan said.

The country is looking toward the Black Sea region and India to source the additional wheat, the executive said.

In 2010-11, Bangladesh imported 760,000 tonnes of wheat although it had contracted 860,000 tonnes, he said. The remaining amount was shipped in 2011-12.

Bangladesh imported wheat around US$309-329 per tonne, cost, insurance and freight, in recent tenders, according to trading executives. This is well below the current global price of around US$340/tonne.

Hassan said Bangladesh is sufficiently covered in terms of grain stocks this year. Total rice and wheat stocks stood at a combined 1.4 million tonnes at the end of August, well above the minimum requirement of around one million tonnes, he said.