Wheat import falls for first time in seven years
Bangladesh’s wheat imports in fiscal 2018-19 declined for the first time in seven years for the higher carry-over stock in the hands of private traders and low prices of the grain’s substitute, rice.
Private importers typically account for 91 percent of the total wheat imports and last fiscal year their imports fell 4 percent year-on-year to 51.55 lakh tonnes.
Imports by government’s food office also fell during the period, according to data from the food ministry.
The decline seems to be an effect of the lower prices of rice brought about by higher domestic production, said Abdus Shukur, head of supply chain of Bashundhara Food and Beverage Industries Limited (BFBIL), which roughly imports 10 lakh tonnes annually.
Bangladesh registered back-to-back good harvests of rice, as a result of which its prices dropped. On the other hand, prices of wheat flour were higher than last year, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
Over the last several years, wheat imports have been increasing, spurred by consumers’ changing diet, flourishing baking industry and growing demand for wheat-based foods such as noodles. Imports trebled since fiscal 2011-12 in volume as domestic production could fulfil one-fourth the total annual requirement of the grain.
And the country’s import cost for wheat doubled to nearly Tk 10,000 crore during the period, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.
Private importers bring nearly half the total imported grain from Russia and Ukraine, said Abul Bashar Chowdhury, chairman and managing director of BSM Group, a Chattogram-based commodity importing firm.
Nearly 30 percent of the wheat are bought from Canada and the rest from the US, Romania, Bulgaria, Argentina and Australia.
The private sector imported higher volume of wheat in fiscal 2017-18, and because of this private importers reduced purchase last fiscal year.
“This year, we do not have carry-over stock, so imports are likely to increase from August,” Chowdhury said.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics is yet to release its estimate of wheat production, harvested in April, for fiscal 2018-19.
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), however, estimates farmers bagged 11.48 lakh tonnes of wheat last fiscal year.
