Global suppliers have bid for Bangladesh’s tender to import 50,000 tonnes of wheat at a lower price than the previous one by $3 a tonne.

“Agrocorp Singapore has made the lowest bid to supply the wheat at $406.83 a tonne, followed by Swiss Singapore Overseas at $414.98 and India’s Bagadiya Brothers at $417.19,” said Rajesh Paharia Jain, a Delhi-based wheat exporter.  

The costs include cost, insurance, freight and unloading charges. Bids for the tender, floated a fortnight ago, were opened today. The Bangladesh Government is expected to sign the deal, if all goes well, in another fortnight’s time. 

Time for shipments 

“The wheat has to arrive in Bangladesh ports in 40 days after the deal is signed. We can expect the shipments to take place between the second half of May and the first half of June,” Jain said. 

India is expected to gain from this tender as the wheat will be sourced from India and will probably set sail from the Kandla port in Gujarat. 

In the previous tender, Swiss Singapore Overseas made the lowest bid at $409.97 a tonne covering cost, insurance and freight plus unloading costs. The next best bids were $424.77 and  $442.38. These firms are expected to buy wheat in India through their trading arms.

Bangladesh plans to import at least one million tonnes (mt) of wheat over the next few months. “It will float tenders regularly,” said Jain.

Next tender opening on April 11

Last week, Dhaka floated another tender for the import of another 50,000 tonnes of wheat. This tender will be finalised on April 11. 

Indian wheat is likely to gain from Bangladesh’s demand for wheat. It had till now been buying the foodgrain from Russia but the Russian-Ukraine conflict has disrupted its supplies. 

On Sunday, Commerce, Industry, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal said India would export 10 mt of wheat during the current fiscal. This is against over 7.5 mt estimated to have been shipped out last fiscal with Bangladesh alone buying 3.5 mt. 

The geopolitical crisis has resulted in wheat prices surging in the global market, in a way helping India as buyers are looking for competitive offerings. 

Wheat prices have gained about 30 per cent year-to-date with benchmark contract on the Chicago Board of Trade quoting at $10.003 a bushel ($367.5 a tonne). 

According to the International Grains Council, Argentine wheat was quoted at $396 a tonne free-on-board during the weekend, while US Hard Red Winter and Soft Red Winter wheat ruled at $455 and $413, respectively. EU France Grade wheat ruled at $423 a tonne. Wheat prices are up over 50 per cent year-on-year. 

Related Topics