Wheat price falling as India lifts embargo

The price of wheat has gone down by Tk 4-5 per kilogram as supply issues eased on the back of India resuming exports through the Hili land port in Dinajpur.

The traders said they bought wheat at Tk 36-37 per kg on Saturday, which was Tk 40 -41 per kg last week.

Mustafijur Rahman, general secretary of the Hili land port export-import group, told UNB that the price of wheat decreased due to increased supply recently.

India imposed an embargo on wheat export to maintain supply of the food grains in their domestic market on May 13. 

The importers who opened LCs to import wheat through railway containers now have to import it by road due to some problems with the railway line, Mustafijur said.

The traders said the price of wheat increased to Tk 1,600 per maund (approximately 40kg), from Tk 950 only before the Ukraine-Russia war.

Bangladesh’s second staple is wheat and the annual consumption of these grains is nearly 8.5 million tonnes, which is increasing by 5 to 6 percent per year.

Until January of fiscal year 2021-22, India supplied 66 percent of the wheat Bangladesh imported. Of the rest, 15 percent was from Ukraine, 7 percent from Russia, 6 percent from Canada, and 5 percent from Australia.