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After Russia, wheat imports started from Ukraine. Last
week, two ships with about 100,000 tons of wheat arrived at Chittagong port in
Bangladesh. According to shipping agent sources, Bashundhara and S Alam Group
have imported this wheat.
Last July, with the help of the United Nations and Turkey,
Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement on the movement of food vessels through
Black Sea ports. Following the agreement, wheat exports from Ukraine began on
August 7. Three months after the agreement, the import of wheat from Ukraine to
Bangladesh started. The wheat arrived from Ukraine at a time when the
contract has a month left. The contract is due to expire in November. There are
fears that exports from Ukraine will stop again if the contract is not
extended.
Wheat was last imported into the country from Ukraine in November last year. Bashundhara Group imported the said wheat. After that, due to the increase in shipping costs, no more wheat was imported from the country. Wheat imports were halted after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out last February. Accordingly, after 10 months, wheat has been imported from the country again.
According to Chittagong port sources, a ship called 'SSI
Pride' arrived at the port last Friday (October 21, 2022) with 46 thousand tons
of wheat from Odesa port in Ukraine. S Alam Group of Chittagong has imported
wheat by this ship. Apart from this ship, the Bashundhara Group has imported 55
thousand tons of wheat in another ship. Out of this, the group has charged
30,000 tonnes of wheat for redemption. The price fell to 390 dollars per ton.
Last week the ship reached the port waters. The local representative of the
ship, the manager of Pacific Ocean Line, Mohammad Sharif, said that
preparations are underway to unload the wheat from the ship from Ukraine.
Earlier, a ship carrying wheat from Russia arrived at the
port in the second week of this month. The government imported 52 thousand 845
tons of wheat in that ship named 'MV Sealak'. This wheat is imported by the
Food Department on a government-level contract basis (JTUG). The Cabinet
Committee on Government Procurement approved the purchase of five lakh tonnes
of wheat from Russia on September 1. The second shipment of government wheat from
Russia is scheduled to arrive at the port later this month. The second shipment
contains 55 thousand tons of wheat in one ship. Although wheat has been
officially imported from Russia, no private-sector ships have arrived at the
port since the start of the war.
Before the Russia-Ukraine war, most wheat was imported from
the two countries. In the fiscal year 2020-21, 44 percent of the total imported
wheat was brought from the two countries. After the start of the war, the
businessmen of this country started importing wheat from India as an
alternative to the two countries. However, India stopped exporting wheat on May
14. After that, the market did not open again. However, against the old letter
of credit, some shipments of wheat are still coming from India.
The country has an annual demand of 70 to 75 lakh tonnes of
wheat. Most of this demand is met by imports. In the last financial year
2021-22, 62 lakh tonnes of wheat were imported.
Source:
Online/SZK
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