The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase cleared the deal on Tuesday, officials said. The wheat, priced at $308 (C$439.51) per ton, will be supplied through Agrocorp International, a Singapore-based trading house authorized by U.S. Wheat Associates, according to official documents.

The agreement follows a memorandum of understanding signed in July for Bangladesh to import 700,000 metric tons of wheat annually from the United States over the next five years as part of efforts to diversify grain sources and strengthen trade ties.

The South Asian country currently depends heavily on lower-cost wheat from the Black Sea region while importing smaller volumes of higher-grade grain from the United States and Canada for blending and quality enhancement.

Until the Trump administration dismantled USAID this year, Bangladesh had also received U.S. wheat and other grains as food aid.

Reducing trade deficit

Officials said the latest deal is part of a broader strategy to reduce Bangladesh’s $6 billion trade deficit with the United States and seek more favourable treatment for key export items – particularly ready-made garments, which dominate the country’s shipments to the U.S.

Bangladesh has secured a reduction in U.S. tariffs on its exports to 20 per cent, down from the 37 per cent initially proposed by Washington, offering much-needed relief to the nation’s apparel exporters.

Alongside the wheat purchases, Dhaka is expanding imports of agricultural products such as soybeans and cotton, and has ordered 25 aircraft from Boeing.

The committee also approved the purchase of 50,000 metric tons of rice from an Indian trader at $359.77 per ton through an international tender as it battles to control prices of the staple grain.

— Reporting by Ruma Paul

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The purchase has been approved by Bangladesh under a government-to-government deal at $302.75 (C$418.07) a ton, the food ministry official said. It will be supplied by a Singapore-based trading house.

Earlier in July Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding to import 700,000 tons of wheat annually from the United States over the next five years.

Bangladesh currently relies heavily on cheap imports from the Black Sea region for lower-cost wheat while importing smaller volumes of higher-grade grain from countries such as the United States and Canada for blending purposes.

Canada has averaged 1.2 million tonnes of annual wheat exports to Bangladesh for the past decade, noted MarketsFarm analyst Bruce Burnett. U.S. exports to the country have been “minimal,” he added.

Until the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID this spring, Bangladesh had received shipments of U.S. wheat and other food grains as donations.

Trump threatened Bangladesh with 35 per cent tariffs on exports from August 1 if the country did not take measures to reduce a $6 billion trade imbalance with the United States.

The planned 700,000 ton wheat purchases will only slightly dent that deficit, but Brian Liedl, vice president of overseas operations at export promotion organization U.S. Wheat Associates, said the deal has encouraged the group to search for other countries that might decide to buy U.S. grains as a way to avoid damaging tariffs.

Liedl said the trade group was looking to strike similar deals with other countries in Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa that had previously received donated U.S. wheat and other kinds of U.S. food assistance.

“We’re looking to replace a lot of that demand with more direct, sustainably commercial business,” Liedl said.

On July 27 Bangladesh also ordered 25 aircraft from Boeing and ramped up imports of other American goods.

A Bangladesh government delegation is in the United States for trade talks this week, officials in Dhaka said.

— Additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg, Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Emily Schmall in Chicago.

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China customs said the move is to protect the safety of the country’s livestock industry and prevent the introduction of epidemics.

Animal and plant waste that are unloaded from ships, aircraft and other from of transportation vehicles from Bangladesh must be disposed of under the supervision of customs, it said in a statement.

Farmers in China, who raise half of the world’s pigs, have ramped up the slaughter of tens of millions of pigs since November as they struggled with high costs, low prices and an outbreak of African swine fever.

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Statistics Canada reported canola exports through October at 1.566 million tonnes, with China accounting for 64 per cent of the total (1.006 million tonnes). Japan and Mexico followed at 273,300 tonnes and 196,900 tonnes respectively.

China was also the largest destination at the same time the previous marketing year, but only accounted for 46 per cent of the total. Japan and Mexico were still number two and three this year, but several other countries who were also major buyers in 2022/23 have not yet shown up in the current crop year data.

Pakistan and Bangladesh have both not bought any Canadian canola in 2023/24, after accounting for just over 110,000 tonnes combined at the same time a year ago. The United Arab Emirates have cut their purchases by 33 per cent (37,400 tonnes) and the 19,200 tonnes shipped to the United States was down by 58 per cent.

European purchases are also down considerably, with only 30,700 tonnes to Belgium on the books so far and none to Germany or France. Exports to Belgium are up slightly from the 23,400 tonnes seen a year ago, but Germany and France had accounted for an additional 76,000 tonnes through three months in 2022/23.

China may be buying more canola this year, but their Canadian wheat imports (not including durum) as of October were roughly half of the 2022/23 level at the same time. China has imported 541,400 tonnes of Canadian wheat through three months, which compares to just over a million tonnes at the same point the previous year. While the Chinese business is down, other countries have picked up the slack, with total Canadian wheat exports through October of 5.453 million tonnes running 13 per cent ahead of the year ago pace.

Canada has exported 522,100 tonnes of non-durum wheat to the U.S. through October (up 74 per cent), 509,200 tonnes to Indonesia (up 143 per cent) and 495,500 tonnes to Japan (up 16 per cent).

— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.

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According to Prairie Ag Hotwire data from Wednesday, high-delivered bids for yellow peas are now priced at $11.25 per bushel, $4.16 (59 per cent) higher than at the same time last year. Meanwhile, the price of green peas has dropped $1.50/bu., or 13 per cent, to $10.

Like barley and corn from North America, the yellow pea is yet another crop seeing larger shipments go to China as it repairs a hog industry decimated by African swine fever.

According to Canadian Grain Commission data, 1.3 million tonnes of peas were exported to China during the 2020-21 crop year up to the end of January, 33.5 per cent more than at the same time last year. Also, 204,800 tonnes of peas have gone to Bangladesh, 17 per cent more than last year.

“They’re trying to build up their swine,” Dale McManus, a trader for Johnston’s Grain at Welwyn, Sask., said. “They’re buying a lot of peas to feed them.”

“China has a shortfall on tonnage and they’re playing catch-up right now,” Kent Anholt, a trader for Rayglen Commodities in Saskatoon, said, adding that 80 per cent of Canadian yellow pea exports are going to China.

Mike Jubinville of MarketsFarm also mentioned the pea processing industry has grown in Western Canada and the crop is increasingly being used for feed to fill the void left by other depleted crops such as barley.

While he projects at least 3.5 million tonnes of Canadian peas going to China this year, other players have also emerged. Chile imported 68,000 tonnes of Canadian peas in January alone, more than twice as much as China. Ukraine and Russia have both upped their own pea exports to China in response to wheat tariffs, but Jubinville doesn’t believe they will affect the amount of Canadian exports until the next marketing year.

“It’s going to take another growing cycle just to get to a point where we start seeing overproduction issues and I don’t see that happening immediately,” he added. “There’s plenty of room in the Chinese market to incorporate more peas from other sources.”

Despite stronger pea prices, Jubinville expects similar seeding numbers (4.25 million acres) for peas in Canada compared to last year, as it competes for acreage against other high-priced crops.

“Historically, (the new pea crop price of) $9/bu. is a profitable price, but is it enough of an incentive to really encourage a lot of new acres to come in relative to the canola, the barley, the oats and the wheat? No, it’s not.”

— Adam Peleshaty reports for MarketsFarm from Stonewall, Man.

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Canada exported 267,462 tonnes of lentils in March, the second-highest monthly total of the crop year to date and well above the 130,980 tonnes exported during the same month the previous year. The United Arab Emirates was a major customer in March, taking 61,795 tonnes.

Total Canadian lentil exports of 1.536 million tonnes are up by about 200,000 tonnes compared to 2019-20.

Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh and India were also noted buyers in March. While increased import tariffs continue to limit some demand from India, the major pulse buyer has increased its purchases over the past year, and has imported 365,713 tonnes of Canadian lentils as of the end of March. That’s up by about 21 per cent on the year.

Solid demand has underpinned domestic Canadian lentil prices over the past month, with red lentil bids at their best levels of the past year and green lentils also strong. Spot bids for red lentils are currently as high as 32 cents/lb., according to Prairie Ag Hotwire data. Large green lentils are also topping 30 cents in some areas.

While some of the strength in lentils is tied to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting increase in demand, the pandemic has also caused some logistical issues that may temper some future movement.

The majority of lentils move by container, and exporters have run into difficulties sourcing containers as the flow of other goods has slowed down.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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“At the end of April we were 26 per cent ahead of last year’s pace. Most of that is due to buying from India. Everybody’s surprised,” she said,

Total lentil exports were 1.16 million tonnes by April 2018 and have reached 1.47 million tonnes as of this past April, according to data from Statistics Canada.

Boersch noted India accounted for almost 65 per cent of 310,000 tonnes in increased exports.

High pigeon pea prices have made lentils from Canada quite attractive, she said, despite India’s 33 per cent tariff.

There have been good exports to Egypt, Bangladesh and Nepal as well, but sales to Turkey are half of what they were last year, Boersch said.

“Clearly not our biggest year, but certainly better than last year,” she summed up.

And that has helped to chip away at large ending stocks from three years ago, she said.

Even with 2019 being a dry year, Boersch stated there is a lot of “upward potential” that could further reduce the ending stocks.

She pointed out lentils and peas have been hampered by lacklustre growth the same as canola, due to sparse rainfall across much of the Prairies.

“They certainly need a shot of water to progress from here, or we’ll see longer-term damage and plants dying,” she said.

— Glen Hallick writes for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

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Data released by the Canadian Grain Commission show China more than tripled its wheat imports, taking in 979,100 tonnes as of May, up from 295,300 tonnes in the same period of 2016-17 and an increase of 231.6 per cent.

Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada, said it’s probably not a coincidence that the information from the U.S. is that China has not been buying wheat from there since March.

Tariffs don’t necessarily have to be in place for governments to act, he said, and it’s possible that importers in China have received direction to look outside the U.S. for purchases this year, given the trade skirmishes between the two countries.

Dahl credited some of the increase in wheat exports to the high-quality crop, but some is due to politics, he said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh imported 1.028 million tonnes of wheat, an increase of 49.8 per cent from the 685,800 tonnes it took in 2016-17.

Top buyer Japan imported 1.328 million tonnes of wheat so far this crop year, compared to 1.307 million in the same period in 2016-17.

Wheat exports to all destinations are up 14.6 per cent overall year over year, at 13.616 million tonnes, compared to 11.881 million tonnes at the end of May in the 2016-17 crop year.

“At this point, I wouldn’t want to make long-term trend predictions just based on this year and given the political uncertainty that is without question influencing trade flows,” Dahl said.

The exception to that rule is in Latin America. Colombia has upped its wheat imports, taking 1.009 million tonnes of wheat, compared to 881,100 tonnes the year previous, an increase of 14.5 per cent.

Dahl attributed that to strong marketing efforts being carried out throughout the region and he sees sustained export growth possible for all of Central and South America.

In barley, exports to all destinations are at 1.731 million tonnes as of the end of May for the 2017-18 crop year. That compares to 1.026 million tonnes for the same period a year ago, an increase of 69.26 per cent.

China and Japan are behind most of the increase, with China increasing its barley imports by 99 per cent year over year, taking 1.573 million tonnes, compared to 790,300 tonnes as of May in the 2016-17 crop year.

In same period, Japan imported 101,500 tonnes compared to 44,600 tonnes in the year previous, which marks an increase of 127.6 per cent.

Canola exports are down slightly overall at 8.754 million tonnes for 2017-18 compared to 9.369 million tonnes as of May 2016-17.

China is importing the largest share of that, with 3.634 million tonnes compared to 3.354 million tonnes in 2016-17. During the same period, Japan imported 1.845 million tonnes, compared to 1.861 million in the same period the previous year.

Soybeans are showing a slight decline in imports year over year, with 3.415 million tonnes as of May this crop year, down from 3.632 million tonnes in 2016-17. China’s imports have declined to 1.354 million tonnes from 1.852 million in 2016-17.

Pea exports are well down, which is expected because of Indian tariffs. Overall pea exports are down 45.6 per cent at 1.755 million tonnes as of May, compared to 3.227 million tonnes in the same period of 2016-17.

India’s pea imports have fallen 83.1 per cent, to 325,700 tonnes compared to 1.927 million the year previous.

— Terry Fries writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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1) The U.S. has long been the No. 1 importer of Alberta agri-food products (raw commodities and processed products). What country is No. 2 and did its purchases go up or down in 2014?
2) Which major buyer doubled its purchases in 2014 and what drove the increase?
3) Suds or spuds? In dollar terms, does Alberta export more malt or more processed potatoes?
4) Name the bigger buyer in each of these pairs: Saudi Arabia or Bangladesh? Peru or India? Hong Kong or Turkey?

1) Who is No. 2?

China bought $1.3 billion of Alberta agri-food products last year, with canola accounting for more than half of that. But even though it upped its canola buy to $783 million (an 18 per cent jump), the overall total fell by 12.4 per cent from 2013. Sales of wheat, dried peas, and “other beverages” all suffered major declines, according to provincial data.

Although it’s not likely to come up on “Jeopardy,” the second most valuable Alberta product exported to China is raw hides and skins. It bought $202 million worth of hides last year.

And even though exports to the world’s second-largest economy dipped last year, the trend is strongly upwards — a decade ago, total exports were just $350 million.

2) Who bought twice as much?

For just the second time in the past decade, South Korea’s purchases topped the $200-million mark. The other time was in 2011, when wheat sales surged, only to promptly plunge the next year.

Wheat accounted for a third of last year’s $228 million in sales to South Korea, with pork coming in at No. 2 with $36 million. Beef sales tripled to $23 million but that wasn’t enough for third spot — that honour goes to hides at $27 million.

3) Suds or spuds?

Processed potatoes — a.k.a. french fries — get the nod with $253 million in sales. But malt sales weren’t far behind at $226 million.

The strength of both sectors may surprise those who think Alberta is just cows, canola, and wheat. The combined potato/malt total is $479 million, which is what exports of live cattle were in 2013. However, cattle sales surged by 50 per cent in 2014 to $715 million.

4) Bigger buyer?

Only a dozen countries spent nine figures or more on Alberta farm products last year. Peru (No. 8) and Bangladesh (No. 10) were in that category, while Saudi Arabia (No. 14) and India (No. 40) were not.

But all four are examples of how you never know who might be a buyer. Sales to Peru have quintupled over the last decade and Bangladesh bought just $9.4 million of Alberta farm products 10 years ago.

The latter two are up-and-down customers. Sales to Saudi Arabia went from $168 million in 2009 to $25 million in 2013, and then jumped to $88 million last year. India is all over the map — $5 million in 2005, $85 million in 2006, back to a few million during the 2008-10 period, nearly $60 million in each of the following two years, and then down to $18 million last year.

And Hong Kong or Turkey?

That’s a gimme. Hong Kong was just out of the Top 5 with $192 million in purchases while Turkey just squeaks into the Top 50 list at $11 million.

The full list of who bought the bounty of Alberta agriculture can be downloaded at agriculture.alberta.ca.

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Farmers in the project are growing lentils in fields left fallow after rice harvests, with the help of a research and training project by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

In a release following a nine-day tour of some of the project sites, officials said the push for lentils could help usher in the next “green revolution” in this part of the world.

“In West Bengal alone, five to six districts specially have high potential for this approach to lentil production and can substantially save foreign exchange spent on lentil imports”, said Purnendu Basu, minister of agriculture for West Bengal, the main rice-growing state in India.

Even though India is the world’s largest producer of lentils, it relies heavily on imports and bought 53 per cent of its needs in 2013.

ICARDA legume breeder Shiv Kumar Agrawal said the double cropping is being made possible with shorter-season and higher-yielding varieties resistant to common diseases, and extensive training of rice farmers in managing lentil crops.

The ICARDA release said the approach has already proven its potential in Bangladesh. Lentil cropping has spread to more than 85 per cent of rice fallow land in the country, bringing in an additional annual income of US$26.6 million.

“In South Asia region, there is a substantial area under rice farming but the land is left fallow sometimes even up to six months every year,” said Ashutosh Sarker, ICARDA’s South Asia regional program co-ordinator. — AGCanada.com Network

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