B'desh resumes wheat imports from India

Bangladesh has resumed large-scale wheat imports from India amid disruptions in Black Sea supplies and rising prices in the global market, according to a Bloomberg report.

Bangladeshi importers have booked more than 200,000 tonnes of wheat from India since the country eased export restrictions in late August. It is the first major purchase of Indian wheat by Bangladesh since 2022.

Most of the wheat will be transported by rail, with the landed price in Bangladesh expected to range between $305 and $326 per tonne, equivalent to around Tk 37.52–40.10 per kg at an exchange rate of Tk 123 per dollar.

Bangladesh needs to import more than 7 million tonnes of wheat annually. Before India imposed export restrictions in 2022, around 70% of Bangladesh’s wheat imports came from the country. Since then, Bangladesh has turned to suppliers including Argentina, Canada, Russia and Ukraine, with about 40% of imports coming from the Black Sea region.

India imposed restrictions on wheat exports in May 2022 over concerns about domestic prices and food security. In 2026, it resumed limited exports under specific quotas. Meanwhile, refined flour prices in Dhaka have risen 17% over the past month, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

An S&P Global analyst told Bloomberg that the main concern for Bangladesh is not wheat availability but keeping prices affordable, warning that higher wheat prices could also increase rice consumption.

-AAH