Bangladesh’s wheat imports are expected to cross 60 lakh tonnes for a second consecutive year, thanks to lower prices in the international market and higher domestic demand for the cereal grain, which is the second most consumed staple after rice.

China is set to import record volumes of wheat this year, trading sources say, with rain damage to its crop and worries over dry weather in exporting nations fuelling Beijing's appetite to buy while prices are low.

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.

Bangladesh’s wheat imports fell for the third consecutive year, suffered by falling consumption for high prices and banks’ sluggishness in opening letters of credit (LCs) amid the US dollar crisis, importers said yesterday.

Wheat imports by the private sector have continued to remain low in Bangladesh than the last fiscal year as businesses are facing persisting difficulties in opening letters of credits owing to the dollar shortage at banks. 

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. 

Around 52,500 tonnes of wheat reached the outer anchorage of Chattogram Port through a cargo ship called Magnum Fortune on November 9.

Bangladesh has conveyed that it will need to import at least 6.2 million tonnes of wheat from India in the current fiscal (2022-23).

Russia has already given offer to export two lakh metric tons of wheat to Bangladesh, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder told the parliament today (June 23, 2022).

India has exported 1.5 lakh tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh since the country restricted the export of the grain on May 13, according to the Indian Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey.

India is likely to approve the export of one million tonnes of wheat with half of it to Bangladesh, for the first time since imposing restriction on supplies of the food grain abroad.

India's ban on wheat export will not prevent export to neighbouring countries and countries that might wish to procure the current produce to supplement their domestic food security policies, at the request of their governments, said a statement of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

The government is trying to import wheat from five alternative sources, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said today.

India today indicated that it would not allow the food security of its South Asian neighbours to be hit by the ban imposed on exports of wheat and that the measure was a temporary one.

The food ministry yesterday informed the cabinet that 20 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat would have to be imported to meet demand and keep the market stable until January next year.

Bangladesh has emerged as a leading wheat importer in the world with its import volume hitting a record high in the current fiscal year, mainly due to a shift in consumers' diet preference and flourishing baked food market.