Bangladesh moves to buy 220,000 tonnes of US wheat

Each tonne of wheat costs $312.25, totalling Tk 8.42 billion for the consignment

Bangladesh is set to purchase another 220,000 tonnes of wheat from the United States under a government-to-government arrangement, at a total cost of Tk 8.42 billion.

Each tonne of wheat costs $312.25, according to a media statement from the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday.

The decision was approved at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Government Purchase.

The deal follows the Trump administration’s imposition of a 35 percent supplementary duty on Bangladeshi exports, prompting the interim government to seek tariff relief by increasing imports from the US.

In July, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for Bangladesh to import 700,000 tonnes of wheat annually, as part of its efforts to offset the impact of the supplementary tariff.

Since then, Bangladesh has brought in three consignments of US wheat, totalling 178,636 tonnes.

The most recent shipment of 60,875 tonnes arrived at Mongla Port on Nov 16. The second consignment of 60,802 tonnes reached on Nov 3, while the first batch of 56,959 tonnes arrived on Oct 25.

Several other procurement decisions were also approved at Tuesday’s meeting, including importing 40,000 tonnes of granular urea fertiliser from the United Arab Emirates, and acquiring 5 million litres of soybean oil through a national open tender.

The committee also recommended procuring 10 million litres of refined rice-bran oil under the same procedure, and importing 40,000 tonnes of DAP fertiliser from Morocco.

Along with that, purchase proposal for construction works on the Mirganj Bridge over the Arial Khan River received approval.