Over Tk 166 cr spent for buying 50,000 mt wheat

Staff Correspondent : The government has taken the initiative to import 50 thousand metric tons of wheat to ensure the food security of the country and to continue the government supply system. The Ministry of Food will import this wheat through international tender. The price of wheat per metric ton is $303.19, the import of 50 thousand metric tons of wheat will cost Tk 166.75 crore in Bangladeshi currency.
According to sources, the Ministry of Food has successfully completed the procurement of 6.0 million metric tons of wheat including 3.0 million metric tons from Russia through international open tender and 3.0 million metric tons from Russia on G-to-G basis. In continuation of this, to achieve the set target of wheat import in the budget, the Department of Food called for international open tenders for the purchase of wheat. A total of 4 organizations collected tenders. In the tender, M/s Agrocrop International Private Limited, Singapore price of wheat per metric ton is $303.19, M/s MC Food DMCC, Dubai is $307.07. M/s, Grainflower DMCC, Dubai submitted tenders quoting $ 312.00 and M/s, Cereal Crops Trading LLC, Dubai quoting $ 315.00.
According to the report of the market price verification committee formed by the food department, the pre-duty price of wheat per metric ton to the port of Bangladesh is determined. In this case, the average market price of wheat per metric ton in Russia, Romania, Black Sea, France, Argentina, Australia, Canada and America is set at $356.82.
The tender evaluation committee after reviewing the overall issues declared the 4 organizations participating in the quotation as acceptable bidders. (356.82-303.19) = $53.19 less than the quoted price of $303.19 per MT for 50,000 MT of wheat submitted by the acceptable bidder M/s Agrocorp International Private Limited. In domestic wheat procurement, 2023 campaign, no wheat was procured against the target of 1.00 lakh metric tonnes due to unfavorable market prices. According to the daily report published by the MIS&M department of the Food Department on February 7, the stock of wheat is only 2.13 lakh metric tons which is insufficient compared to the country’s demand. The tender evaluation committee recommended to accept the price quoted by the lowest bidder M/s Agrocorp International Pvt Ltd at $303.19 per metric ton to the port of Bangladesh in order to keep the government distribution system operational as an emergency service and to build up the government safety stock.
$ 303.19 per metric ton of wheat from the tenderer M/s Agrocorp International Pvt Ltd (Tk 33.3509 per kg wheat) on the recommendation of the bid evaluation committee. As such, the import of 50,000 metric tons of wheat will cost $1 crore 51 lakh 59 thousand 500 equivalent to Tk 166.75 crore in Bangladeshi currency (last February 4, the dollar exchange rate in Bangladesh Bank was Tk 110.00 per US dollar).
According to sources, 60 percent of these 50,000 metric tons of imported wheat will be imported through Chittagong port and the remaining 40 percent will be imported through Mongla port. A procurement proposal in this regard will be presented in the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Procurement chaired by the finance minister.