26,000 tonnes of wheat from Ukraine arrive at Ctg port

Talha Bin Habib The first consignment of wheat imported under the government initiative from Ukraine arrived at Chittagong port. The import is a part of government's domestic food security plan, officials said. "A ship carrying 26,000 tonnes of wheat has already arrived at Chittagong port," Md. Badrul Hasan, Director (Procurement Division) of Directorate General of Food told the FE Wednesday. He said two more ships carrying wheat will also arrive in the country by this month. "Another ship carrying 55,000 tonnes of wheat has already left Ukraine, and it will reach Chittagong port within the next few days," he added. He said another ship with the rest 19,000 tonnes of wheat will also arrive in the country from Ukraine this month. The import of wheat came into effect following a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Bangladesh and Ukraine in Dhaka on August 16 last. As part of the deal the former Soviet republic will supply 0.1 million tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh. Ukraine Agriculture Policy and Food Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk and Bangladesh Food and Disaster Management Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque were present in the signing ceremony. Under the agreement, Ukraine - one of the largest producers of wheat in the globe - will provide Bangladesh with wheat any time of her needs in line with the international price. As per the deal, Bangladesh is now getting wheat from Ukraine at $ 320 per tonne. "At present, the country has a stock of nearly three million tonnes of wheat at government storage houses," according to an official of Directorate General of Food. The International Grains Council forecast for global wheat production in 2011-12 with crop outlook is bright in some of the European Union (EU) countries.