Bangladesh has been importing wheat from the United States at higher prices compared to cheaper Russian wheat in order to protect its American export markets and honour a trade agreement with the US, said a top official of commerce ministry yesterday.

The price gap between American and Russian wheat currently ranges between $75 and $80 per tonne. Bangladesh has been purchasing American wheat at $308 per tonne, while Russian wheat is sold in international markets at $226 to $230 per tonne.

The first consignment 57,000 tonnes of grain of US wheat, part of a 440,000-tonne purchase agreement, arrived at the Chattogram port on Saturday aboard the MV Norse Stride, according to a press release from the food ministry.

The government bought the wheat from the US under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed earlier this year between the Directorate General of Food and the US Department of Agriculture.

The Trump administration had earlier reduced its reciprocal tariff rate for Bangladesh to 20 percent from the initial 37 percent after Bangladesh agreed to increase imports from the US to help narrow the annual trade gap of over $6.2 billion.

As the single largest export destination, Bangladesh ships goods worth more than $8.2 billion to the US while importing around $6 billion worth of American products.

The government has agreed to import 3.5 million tonnes of wheat under the trade agreement, which is awaiting formal signing at a mutually convenient time, as both sides have already approved the draft deal.

"The main target of Bangladesh is to protect its export market worth over $8 billion, which may exceed $10 billion by the end of this year," Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman told over the phone yesterday.

"The US is a big market for Bangladesh and a major trading partner, unlike Russia," Rahman said, adding that Bangladesh's exports to Russia have yet to cross the $1 billion mark.

"Since the US is a major trading partner, it can be given some privileges," he said, noting that exports from Bangladesh to the US have grown rapidly under the favourable tariff regime.

Rahman also pointed out that American wheat has higher protein content and better consistency than Russian wheat, indicating superior quality and standards.

"That is why US wheat is preferred, and historically, its price has always been higher than Russian wheat," he added.

The commerce secretary further said about 12 percent to 20 percent of Russian wheat becomes unusable after sorting due to the presence of harmful insects and moisture, which reduces the final usable quantity.

Moreover, Russia and Ukraine are not considered reliable sources of wheat supply for Bangladesh because of the ongoing war between the two countries, he said.

"The guaranteed supply of wheat from Russia and Ukraine may be disrupted at any time due to communication breakdowns caused by the war," Rahman said.

He also expressed concern that wheat-carrying ships might be at risk of being sunk during the conflict. "Our bilateral trade with Russia and Ukraine is not significant, even though they are jointly the world's largest wheat suppliers," he added.

Rahman noted that while the private sector is free to import wheat at lower prices from Russia, the government's initiative is aimed at reducing Bangladesh's trade deficit with the US.

This effort includes purchasing Boeing aircraft and increasing imports of other American agricultural products such as LNG, wheat, cotton, and soybeans, he said.

Taslim Shahriar, deputy general manager of the Meghna Group of Industries (MGI), a leading importer, said his company sources wheat from the global market based on price competitiveness.

"However, the quality of US wheat is comparatively better than that of Russian wheat," he said, adding that the MGI imports a significant amount of soybean from the US due to competitive pricing.

"But in the case of wheat, we do not import large volumes from the US," he said.

He also mentioned that the price of US soybean products has recently dropped significantly after China, the largest importer, shifted its sourcing to Brazil and Argentina.

FP/MI