The interim government on Wednesday decided to procure 2.20 lakh tonnes of wheat from the United States at Tk 817.57 crore in a bid to avert a high US tariff on Bangladeshi goods.
Although the price is a bit high it will help in the country鈥檚 current negotiation with the US over tariff issues, said finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed after approving a proposal from the ministry of food in this regard in a meeting of the advisory council committee on the government purchase at secretariat.
The country needs to diversify sources, he said referring problems created by Yemen in the Red Sea, while describing the reason of importing wheat from the US costing Tk聽37.17 per koligram.
A significant portion of the wheat imported from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania reaches in Bangladesh through the Red Sea
Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted around 70 merchant vessels with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Earlier, the finance adviser presided over a meeting of the advisory council committee on economic affairs at the same place to approve the lone proposal of buying the wheat from the US under the government-to-government negotiation.
The food ministry鈥檚 wheat procurement proposal came three days after it signed a memorandum of understanding with the US to import 7 lakh tonnes of wheat annually for the next five years amid the threat of facing 35 per cent US tariff on its exports from the next month.
The finance adviser admitted that the wheat procurement deal would help the local side in the ongoing negotiation with the United States Trade Representatives over imposition of the tariff effective from August 1.
Dhaka, which is expecting to start the third round of negotiations with Washington soon, wants the settlement of tariff at a tolerable level to safeguard its overall exports to the US market.
The country鈥檚 overall exports to the US were $8.4 billion in 2024, with the readymade garments accounting for $7.34 billion. In the year, the country imported US goods worth $2.2 billion.
The country鈥檚 annual demand for wheat is around 70 lakh tonnes with private sector importers such as City Group, Meghna Group, Bashundhara Group, Nabil Group, Sheikh Brothers and Sainik Group accounting for around 95 per cent.
The advisory council committee on the government purchase in its meeting also approved procurement of 1.2 lakh tonnes of fertiliser, two cargoes of Liquefied natural Gas and 7,000 tonnes lentil.
The import cost of 1.2 lakh tonnes fertilizer in four lots 鈥� 30,000 muriate of potash from Russia, 30,000 tonnes of triple super phosphate from Morocco, 30,000 diamonium phosphate from Moroco and 30,000 tonnes of muriate of potash from Canada 鈥� stands at Tk 892.41 crore.
One of the LNG cargos will be supplied by Vitol Asia Pte LTD at Tk聽522 crore while the other one by M/S Gunvor Singapre Pte LTD at Tk 513.45 crore.
KBC Agro Product Limited will supply 7,000 tonnes lentil at Tk聽64.31 crore with per kg costing Tk聽91.88.
