Govt to import 3 lakh tonnes Russian wheat defying US embargo

Staff Reporter :
The government is going to import three lakh tonnes of wheat from Russian Federation again on G2G basis despite the US trade embargo amid Ukraine-Russia war.

It will cost around Tk1032.90 crore and the price of wheat will be $313 per tonne, according to the procurement proposal, which will be placed at the meeting of the government procurement committee for final approval.

The meeting chair by the Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is scheduled to be held today (Wednesday).

According to the Food Ministry’s proposal, they have held several meetings with the authority of the Russian export-import company Mantitsky in Moscow last few days to finalise the issue of importing three lakh tonnes of wheat.

The authority of the Mantitsky has agreed to send the designated amount of wheat within 120 days from the opening of letter of credit (LC).

The Russian company will supply 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat in every 15 days after the opening of LC at the rate of $310 per tonne and $2.77 will be added with the amount for transportation cost against per tonne, the proposal said.

The Food Ministry has targeted to import six lakh tonnes of wheat from the internal sources in the current fiscal year (2023-24).

Bangladesh imported five lakh of wheat from Russian Federation on G2G basis by making payment with dollar in August last year.

The price of wheat was $430 per tonne and the total cost of importing the amount of wheat was Tk 2,042.50 crore.