DHAKA: Bangladesh will reject yet another cargo of 50,0000 tonnes Russian wheat on concerns over grain quality, a senior official at the state grains agency said, barely two weeks after it refused two shipments totalling 100,000 tonnes for the same reason.
Bangladesh imports around 3 million tonnes of wheat annually to meet growing demand as the country’s domestic output has stagnated at around 1 million tonnes. Rice is the main staple for Bangladesh’s 160 million people, but wheat consumption is also rising due to lifestyle changes. Russia, a major global wheat exporter, supplied 943,000 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh in between July and February, making the Asian nation the fourth-largest buyer of Russian wheat this season after Egypt, Turkey and Iran.
A lab test has confirmed that the quality of the 50,000 tonnes cargo did not match specifications set out in the tender, said Ilahi Dad Khan, director of the state grains agency. The Russian cargo had a test weight of 74.8 kilos per hectolitre against a minimum test weight of 76 kilos and 12.03 percent protein content against the specified 12.50 percent, Khan told Reuters. The cargo was sold at $211.45 a tonne, including CIF liner out, meaning the price includes shipping, insurance and discharge costs.
The test was done in the presence of a delegation from Russia’s grain-quality watchdog which visited Bangladesh last month after the first two cargoes were rejected. During the visit, the Russian team received an official Bangladeshi rejection of the two cargoes, which have been resold to other countries, the watchdog said in a statement. It did not name those countries.
The two sides also agreed to send copies of grain quality certificates from the Russian centre to Bangladesh along with future supplies. Last year, Bangladesh rejected three shipments involving a total of 125,000 tonnes of French wheat after the grain failed to match tender specifications. The rejections came after the state buyer faced severe criticism for importing 200,000 tonnes of wheat from Brazil, some of which was found to be sub-standard.
