Reuters, Dhaka :
A Bangladesh tender to import 50,000 tonnes of wheat drew its lowest offer from Singapore-based Agrocorp on Sunday at $299.07 a tonne, officials at the state grains buyer said.
Three other trading houses competed for the tender issued last month by the Directorate General of Food, Bangladesh’s state grains purchasing agency.
Trading house J. K. International offered $302.25 a tonne, Phoenix Global offered $309.87 a tonne, while Swiss Singapore Overseas came up with the highest offer of $309.93 a tonne.
The price includes shipping, insurance and discharge costs.
Wheat with 12.5 per cent protein content was sought for shipment 40 days after contract signing, from any country apart from Israel.
The wheat in the lowest offer was of Russian origin, the officials said.
A report from the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in December 2018 estimated Bangladesh’s wheat import requirements in the current 2018/19 season at a record of around 6 million tonnes, 34 per cent above the previous five-year average following steady increases since 2012/13.
The strong demand for wheat reflects a shift in consumers’ diet preferences towards bread as well as the increased use of wheat as a substitute for more expensive rice, the FAO said.
Another tender for a similar quantity of wheat for Bangladesh is due to open on 10 February.
In a previous tender on 8 January, Russian wheat was offered at the lowest price of $290.94 a tonne by Swiss Singapore Overseas.
