Wheat consumption in Bangladesh will increase by 6 percent
in the current marketing year. The United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) has provided this information in its latest crop forecast for
Bangladesh. According to the report, demand for wheat in the country's
marketing, restaurant and bakery industries will increase by 6 percent to 7.4
million tons in the marketing year starting from July. But about 6 percent of this
demand has to be met through imports.
This is because farmers are shifting from wheat cultivation
to alternative crops like potato, vegetables and Boro
paddy for more profit. That is why the domestic production of wheat is
declining. According to the agency, about 13 percent of the total demand for
wheat in Bangladesh will be met through local production.
According to the USDA, farmers planted wheat on 3.20 million
hectares of land in the 2021-22 marketing year, down 4 percent from the same
period a year ago. It is estimated that farmers planted 11.3 lakh tons of wheat
in the marketing year ending in June. Bangladesh's wheat imports will increase
by 3% to 74 lakh tons in the 2021-22 marketing year due to reduction in local
production.
According to the USDA, citing local media, Bangladesh's
biscuit and bakery industries use a significant amount of flour. More than
4,500 conventional biscuit factories and 110 modern automated mills have
produced 5.10 lakh tons of biscuits and cookies in the fiscal year 2020-21.
Priced at about 824 million.
In addition, a lot of wheat is needed as cattle feed. The
use of wheat for animal feed and other necessities has increased by six lakh
tons in 2021-22 marketing year, which is 20 percent more than the previous
year.
According to the agency, Bangladesh's wheat imports were
much lower in July-October 2021 due to higher prices and increased shipping
costs.
As imports fall in the first four months of the 2021-22
marketing year, imports will increase significantly in the next 8 months to
meet growing domestic demand. According to the company, the price of flour has
also increased in the retail market of Bangladesh due to the high price of
wheat in the international market.
According to the latest report released by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), corn prices rose 3.8 percent and rice
prices rose 3.1 percent in January. In Australia and Argentina, on the other
hand, wheat prices fell by 3.1 per cent.
|Source: Online/KSU
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