Despite a ban in India on the export of wheat, Bangladesh is hopeful that it would be able to import the food grain from the friendly neighbouring country.
Moreover, the Bangladesh government is trying to import wheat from five alternative sources, including Ukraine and Brazil.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Monday said that the government is trying to import wheat from five alternative sources, including Ukraine after India imposed a ban on the exports of the food grain.
The Commerce Minister said mentioned that India imposed a ban on wheat export amid the devaluation of the Bangladeshi currency (Taka) against the US dollar. However, India will hopefully consider it showing gestures of the friendliness of the two neighbouring countries.
“The government continues negotiations in this regard,” he added.
The minister said these while addressing a dialogue organized by the Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters Forum (BSRF) at the Secretariat in the capital Dhaka.
He said the government, instead of controlling the market of daily commodities, should work to keep it stable.
“The Russia-Ukraine war has had a huge impact on the food products,” he said and urged all to be accommodative as there is some crisis ahead.
Mentioning that India will export wheat to Bangladesh, the Commerce Minister further said, “We also have talked to Canadian High Commissioner regarding the wheat import.”
“There is no cause for being worried over wheat,” he said.
On the other hand, officials concerned and businessmen expressed their hope that being a neighboring country, Bangladesh could be able to import wheat from India even though there is a ban imposed on the wheat export.
They said the terms and conditions of the Indian ban allow it when exported to Bangladesh.
They said although India imposed a ban on wheat export, Bangladesh could be able to import wheat from India by negotiating on those terms. However, it requires diplomatic efforts to import wheat.
According to the website of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade of India, the country has mentioned two reasons for the ban on wheat exports. One of them is to coordinate their overall food security. And the second one is to respond to the food security needs of neighboring and other countries having food security risks. Naturally, as a big neighbor, Bangladesh deserves this facility.
Besides, official sources said that the bonds opened for importing wheat from India before May 13 are not barred from export.
It should be mentioned that India has imposed a ban on wheat export under certain conditions on the ground of meeting the domestic demand of the country. The decision has been in effect since last Friday (May 13). This decision of India will have an impact on the whole world including Bangladesh.
In the years before of the Ukraine-Russia war, more than 55 percent of the country's wheat imports came from India. After the war began, dependence on wheat imports from India increased.
Officials and businessmen said that, in this circumstance, the impact of the Indian ban is also felt in Bangladesh.
They, however, said that under the terms of India's export ban, there is an opportunity to bring wheat to Bangladesh as a neighbor country. Bangladesh should use that condition and make diplomatic efforts to import wheat. Besides, Bangladesh would have to find alternative markets for wheat import.
According to sources, usually, Russia and Ukraine meet the demand for wheat in European markets. But since the war between the two countries began last February, many countries in the world, including Europe, have started importing wheat from India. At that time India was also supplying wheat quite well.
But, recently the Indian Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industry decided to suspend wheat exports. The government later said in a statement that exports were being stopped for the time being in view of the shortage of wheat in the world market. The decision to export will be taken again after judging the situation.
According to sources, in April this year, India exported a recorded quantity of 14 lakh tonnes of wheat while there is also an agreement to export of 15 lakh tons of wheat in the month of this May.
