Bangladesh rejects 100,000 tonnes of Russian wheat

Bangladesh rejected two cargoes of Russian wheat totaling 100,000 tonnes, on concerns over the quality of grains, officials and traders said today.

Russian grain experts are in Bangladesh to carry out tests and discuss reported problems concerning Russian wheat shipments, Russia's food safety watchdog said.

One cargo of 50,000 tonnes was sold at $215.87 a tonne, including CIF liner out, in a tender. This cargo has been rejected after the lab test confirmed the quality did not match the specifications set out in the tender, two officials from the state grains agency said.

The second cargo, bought at $233.96 a tonne, was found with 1.08 percent foreign body content, higher than the permissible limit of 0.7 percent.

Russia, a major global wheat exporter, supplied 943,000 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh in July-February, making the South Asian nation the fourth-largest buyers of Russian wheat this season after Egypt, Turkey and Iran.

Last year Bangladesh rejected three shipments involving a total of 125,000 tonnes of French wheat after the grain failed to match tender specifications.

Last year's rejections came after the state buyer faced severe criticism for importing by tender 200,000 tonnes of wheat from Brazil, some of which was found to be sub-standard.