Wheat imports grew four times in the first quarter of this fiscal year as businesses showed an interest in tapping into reduced international prices of the second most-consumed grain in Bangladesh.

Russia and Ukraine have become major sources of wheat for Bangladesh after India’s ban of its shipment, thanks to a United Nations and Turkey brokered grain deal that allowed moving the cereal from Ukraine over the Black Sea. 

Farmers, buoyed by soaring prices of flour in the domestic market because of the decline in imports, have brought more areas under wheat cultivation this season in a welcoming development.  

Bangladesh’s overall wheat consumption is likely to drop 10 per cent to 69 lakh tonnes in the marketing year of 2022-23 as high market prices and lower supply of wheat and wheat flour are reducing consumer demand, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).