The first consignment of wheat, under a memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh and the United States for the annual import of 7 lakh tonnes, reached the outer anchorage of the Chittagong port on Saturday.
A vessel named MV NORSE STRIDE carrying 56,950 tonnes of wheat reached Kutubdia, the outer anchorage of the Chittagong port, at about 9:30am on the day from Kalama port in Washington.
Md Akbar Ali, chief executive officer of Seven Seas Shipping Lines, the local agent of the MV NORSE STRIDE, said around 60 per cent of the wheat would be unloaded at outer anchorage.
The remaining 40 per cent will be transported to the Mongla port in Khulna.聽
The current consignment is part of importing 2.20 lakh tonnes of wheat from the US at Tk 817.57 crore under the government-to-government negotiation that was approved by the advisory council committee on the government purchase on July 23.
After approving the proposal from the ministry of food, committee chief and finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters the price of US wheat was a bit high, but it would help in the country鈥檚 negotiation with the US over tariff issues.
Earlier a food ministry committee evaluated that the purchasing price was about $0.13 or Tk 4 higher for each tonne than the current market rates.
On July 20, Dhaka signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with Washington to import 700,000 tonnes of wheat annual over the next five years to secure a favourable deal after the US president Donald Trump threatened to impose high duty on Bangladeshi goods entering the US market.
The US wanted Bangladesh to reduce the trade gap favouring Dhaka鈥檚 overall exports to the US at $8.4 billion in 2024, against the import of $2.2 billion.
On October 7, the advisory council committee on government purchase approved importing another2.20 lakh tonnes wheat from the US at estimated Tk 825.31 crore. For the current financial year of 2025-26, the government has planned to buy 6.1 lakh tonnes of wheat.
A team led by additional secretary AHM Kamruzzaman of the food ministry has already collected samples from the vessel on arrival and sent to a laboratory for testing.
The unloading will begin once the laboratory report confirms the wheat is fit for human consumption, said Akbar Ali.
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.
It imports wheat mainly from Russia, Ukraine, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, but shipments from Ukraine have decreased since the war with Russia began in 2022.
Bangladesh Bank data showed that the country imported wheat worth about $635.8 million in FY24.
