Bangladesh plans to buy wheat from India as global supply tightens

BAngladesh is looking for to purchase wheat berry from bharat to receive its domestic demand and traders expect the country to import sizeable quantities, amid global supply disruptions due to the ongoing West Asia conflict, a person familiar with the matter said.Traders of both countries are “engaged” in negotiations to close deals, the person cited above said, declining to be named.India, the world’s second-largest producer, lifted its export ban on February 13, allowing outbound shipments of 2.5 million tonnes of the grain and an additional 500,000 tonnes of wheat-based products, such as semolina, or suji. A month earlier, the government had allowed exports of 500,000 tonnes of wheat flour.The quantities allowed for overseas sale were aimed at keeping markets stable and improving returns for farmers, an official statement had said at the time. Exports will also free up storage amid a glut due to a strong monsoon last year.“The directorate general of foreign trade has started vetting and issuing licences for the permitted wheat export quota,” a second person said.Indian wheat was more expensive in comparison to grains in other countries because of a federally fixed floor rate, known as minimum support price, making it less competitive, traders say.However, disruptions in fertiliser supplies have ratcheted up global demand for food and Bangladeshi buyers are expected to purchase the Indian variety to save shipment costs, which have soared on the back of the Iran war, an executive of a Jaipur-based trading house said, requesting anonymity.Overall trade between the two countries had taken a blow after both slapped restrictions on border trade in the aftermath of the July 2024 uprising in the neighbouring country that toppled the government led by Sheikh Hasina, amid cooling ties.Bangladeshi foreign minister Khalilur Rahman is scheduled to visit India on April 7, his first trip abroad since a government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party assumed office after a landslide win in polls held in February.Despite extreme weather damaging winter-sown wheat, currently being harvested, the impact is not expected to be large, said Navneet Chitlangia, the head of Roller Flour Millers’ Federation of India. “There has been damage to wheat but it’s not widespread. Our initial surveys show that output loss should not be more than 2%,” Chitlangia said.Last month’s torrential rains and hailstorms battered fertile wheat-growing plains, which could shave off a million tonnes from total output, which the government estimates to be 120 million tonnes.The country’s total foodgrain production for 2025-26 is seen rising 3% from a year ago to a record 348.65 million tonnes, according to the agriculture ministry’s second of four quarterly advance estimates released on March 10.