Free trade in wheat can help Bangladesh improve food security: Moriarty
Thursday, 23 October 2008
FE Report
US ambassador James F Moriarty Wednesday said free and efficient trade can help Bangladesh secure food stocks at the best prices in times of crisis.
Addressing a seminar on "International Wheat Market and Bangladesh Wheat Import", the US Ambassador said free and more efficient trade in wheat can help Bangladesh improve food security.
"The seminar will discuss how Bangladesh can buy the best wheat at the best price from the world's best producers. Food security depends on procuring good product at the best price," he said.
The top US diplomat in Bangladesh said wheat can be a critical component of Bangladesh's food security in view of growing global challenges.
"High food prices worldwide strike hard low-income countries like Bangladesh as global climate change appears to bring more natural disasters, which often wipe out crops," he added.
"Bangladesh successfully and simultaneously tackled both these problems (inflation and global climate change) in the past year. The result was a strong economic growth for the year, more than 6.0 per cent," Mr Moriarty said.
United States Wheat Associates and the US Foreign Agricultural Service arranged the programme which was addressed, among others, by Mark Samson, vice president for South Asia US Wheat Associates, Oliver Flake, agriculture attache, US embassy of New Delhi, and Pranab Chakraborty, director general of Food Policy Monitoring Unit of Food Ministry of Bangladesh government.
Bangladesh businessman Mr Sajjatuz Jumma moderated a session in the day-long seminar. According to available statistics, wheat accounts for the great bulk of imported food grains in Bangladesh. In the fiscal year 2007-08, a total of 401 million US dollars was spent to import wheat, which was only 171 million dollars in 2002, 198 million dollars in 2003, 287 million dollars in 2004, 312 million dollars in 2005 and 301 million dollars in 2006 fiscal years.
The companies import wheat mainly from Russia, Nepal, Ukraine, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Argentina. The latest data show that import from Nepal is increasing. With the growing demand of wheat-related food items in the Bangladesh market, new companies made debut in the venture and selected Nepal because of competitive price rate and carrying cost.
"The annual demand of wheat in the Bangladesh market is three million tonnes and only 0.8 million tonnes are produced locally. So Bangladesh imported 2.2 million tonnes of wheat, mostly through private sector in the last fiscal," Pranab Chakraborty said.
According to the latest Bangladesh Economic Review, until April 15, 2008, a total of 1.26 million tonnes of wheat were imported, of which 1.03 million tonnes were imported by the private sector.
Bangladesh imported wheat worth $89 million from the USA in 2007 while it was only $ 11 million in 2006. "What we seek is a level playing field to allow the US farmers to compete fairly to feed Bangladesh's hungry mouths," the US ambassador said.
In the last four years, Bangladesh agricultural exports to the United States have almost doubled, from 86 million dollars to 166 million dollars. US agricultural exports to Bangladesh are also growing, from $79 million to 120 million dollars in just the last two years.
The seminar was told that the USA, Canada, Australia, Argentina and EU are the world's top five exporters of wheat in the world market.
US ambassador James F Moriarty Wednesday said free and efficient trade can help Bangladesh secure food stocks at the best prices in times of crisis.
Addressing a seminar on "International Wheat Market and Bangladesh Wheat Import", the US Ambassador said free and more efficient trade in wheat can help Bangladesh improve food security.
"The seminar will discuss how Bangladesh can buy the best wheat at the best price from the world's best producers. Food security depends on procuring good product at the best price," he said.
The top US diplomat in Bangladesh said wheat can be a critical component of Bangladesh's food security in view of growing global challenges.
"High food prices worldwide strike hard low-income countries like Bangladesh as global climate change appears to bring more natural disasters, which often wipe out crops," he added.
"Bangladesh successfully and simultaneously tackled both these problems (inflation and global climate change) in the past year. The result was a strong economic growth for the year, more than 6.0 per cent," Mr Moriarty said.
United States Wheat Associates and the US Foreign Agricultural Service arranged the programme which was addressed, among others, by Mark Samson, vice president for South Asia US Wheat Associates, Oliver Flake, agriculture attache, US embassy of New Delhi, and Pranab Chakraborty, director general of Food Policy Monitoring Unit of Food Ministry of Bangladesh government.
Bangladesh businessman Mr Sajjatuz Jumma moderated a session in the day-long seminar. According to available statistics, wheat accounts for the great bulk of imported food grains in Bangladesh. In the fiscal year 2007-08, a total of 401 million US dollars was spent to import wheat, which was only 171 million dollars in 2002, 198 million dollars in 2003, 287 million dollars in 2004, 312 million dollars in 2005 and 301 million dollars in 2006 fiscal years.
The companies import wheat mainly from Russia, Nepal, Ukraine, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Argentina. The latest data show that import from Nepal is increasing. With the growing demand of wheat-related food items in the Bangladesh market, new companies made debut in the venture and selected Nepal because of competitive price rate and carrying cost.
"The annual demand of wheat in the Bangladesh market is three million tonnes and only 0.8 million tonnes are produced locally. So Bangladesh imported 2.2 million tonnes of wheat, mostly through private sector in the last fiscal," Pranab Chakraborty said.
According to the latest Bangladesh Economic Review, until April 15, 2008, a total of 1.26 million tonnes of wheat were imported, of which 1.03 million tonnes were imported by the private sector.
Bangladesh imported wheat worth $89 million from the USA in 2007 while it was only $ 11 million in 2006. "What we seek is a level playing field to allow the US farmers to compete fairly to feed Bangladesh's hungry mouths," the US ambassador said.
In the last four years, Bangladesh agricultural exports to the United States have almost doubled, from 86 million dollars to 166 million dollars. US agricultural exports to Bangladesh are also growing, from $79 million to 120 million dollars in just the last two years.
The seminar was told that the USA, Canada, Australia, Argentina and EU are the world's top five exporters of wheat in the world market.