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Bangladesh stumbled in the beginning while importing wheat
from Ukraine. Private sector importers said the announcement of Russia's
withdrawal from the UN-brokered grain export agreement has created import
uncertainty.
Import of wheat from Ukraine through Chittagong Port started
in the third week of this month. So far 1 lakh 59 thousand tons of wheat has
been imported in 3 ships. The wheat of these three ships is still being
unloaded. S Alam in two of these vessels and Bashundhara Group in one imported
wheat.
Last July, with the help of the United Nations and Turkey,
an agreement was reached between Ukraine and Russia on the movement of food
vessels through Black Sea ports. Following the agreement, wheat exports from
Ukraine began on August 7. After the agreement, Ukraine has exported 8 million
tons of wheat so far.
The contract was supposed to expire in November. Negotiations were underway to extend the contract before its expiry. Before that, last Saturday (October 29, 2022), Ukraine launched a drone attack targeting the Russian fleet off the coast of Crimea in the Black Sea. According to AFP and the Guardian, Russia announced its withdrawal from the agreement after the attack.
The private sector importers said that several lakh tons of
wheat import credit have been opened from Ukraine to the private sector. These wheat
are supposed to come to the country gradually. The announcement of Russia's
withdrawal from the agreement has created uncertainty about whether wheat can
be imported or not. Apart from the three ships that arrived at the port, it is
not known whether there are any wheat ships bound for Bangladesh from the port
of Ukraine.
Mohammad Sharif, manager of Pacific Ocean Line, the local
representative of SSI Pride, the wheat ship imported by S Alam Group from
Ukraine, said that he is not aware of the arrival of the wheat ship from
Ukraine.
The major source of wheat imports was Russia-Ukraine.
According to Board of Revenue data, the largest import of wheat before the war
was from the two countries. 44 percent of total wheat imports in 2020-21 came
from Russia and Ukraine. 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.
Meanwhile, although there is no restriction on the import of
wheat from Russia, the private sector has not yet imported wheat. However, a
group from Chittagong has opened a loan for the import of about one lakh tonnes
of wheat in two ships. The wheat has not reached the port yet. However, the
government sector has started importing five lakh tonnes of wheat.
According to production and import data, the annual demand
for wheat in the country is 70 to 75 lakh tonnes. 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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