Bangladesh: Government buys costly US wheat before next tariff bargain

Ahead of next negotiation with the Trump administration on tariff reduction, the government approved procurement of 220,000 tonnes of wheat from the United States at a price much higher than international-market rates. Following the all-clear, Agrocorp International Pte Ltd, an authorised supplier in US Wheat Associates, will deliver the grain to Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Food at a price of $302.75 per tonne. Presently, wheat price in Russia and Ukraine — the main wheat-sourcing countries for Bangladesh — is around $235 per tonne while in Europe the rate is around $240 per tonne. The Advisers’ Council Committee on Government Purchase in a meeting Wednesday with Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair gave the approval for the wheat buy-seen as part of a package of tradeoffs to narrow a trade gap and get the jacked-up additional US tariffs on Bangladeshi exports withdrawn. The Trump administration slapped 35-percent reciprocal tariff on Bangladeshi goods, in ...