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Russia has offered to export wheat to Bangladesh a month
after India imposed a ban on wheat exports. The country is keen to export
200,000 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh, said Food Minister Sadhan Majumder.
The minister confirmed this in Parliament last Thursday
(June 23, 2022). At the same time, he expressed his desire to import wheat. He
said Bangladesh is going to import wheat from Russia under a government
agreement.
Wheat and flour prices have risen along with various food
grains due to the war between Ukraine- Russian. So the government is going to
import wheat from Russia.
Food ministry officials said they had discussed the issue
with Russian authorities.
Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters also quoted an unnamed
official of the Commerce Ministry as saying that Bangladesh was importing wheat
from Russia.
According to a Reuters report quoting Commerce Ministry
officials, the agreement with Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, will
enable Bangladesh to meet its needs at a slightly lower price than the global
rising prices.
Regarding the import of wheat from Russia, Food Secretary
Md. Ismail Hossain told the media that there have been fruitful discussions
with the Russian authorities on the import of wheat. We have offered to import
wheat. They have also shown interest in exporting.
He said another round of talks would be held on July 4,
adding that some more issues would be finalized there.
Meanwhile, an official of the Food Ministry's procurement
and supply division, who did not want to be named, said that importing wheat
from Russia would be paid in Dollars.
The official said there was an MoU on imports of fertilizers
and food from Russia. Bangladesh has promised to pay the import price in
dollars.
Russia has been asked to ensure the supply of goods within
60 to 90 days, he said, adding that the issue will be discussed in more detail
at the next meeting.
The country has an annual demand of 60 to 70 lakh tonnes of
wheat. In the last fiscal year 2020-21, apart from domestic supply, about 53
lakh tonnes of wheat was imported privately. In the 11 months of the current
financial year, 23 lakh tons have been imported.
|Source: Online/KSU
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