The government of Bangladesh has struck a deal with Russia to import fertilizers from the country. The country has joined another handful of countries, including India to maintain trade relationships with Russia. After russia invaded Ukraine earlier in 2022, several governments in the world had placed sanctions on the country. Due to this reason. The international community has reportedly decided to limit trade with russia.
However, Bangladesh did not join leagues with these nations and instead decided to follow the lead of India. According to the reports, Bangladesh has signed the deal to import 180,000 tonnes of muriates of Potash for 2023-24. Bangladesh’s annual requirement of fertilizers totals at 750,000 tonnes. The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation signed the deal with Russian Prodintorg.
The country depends on russia for valuable imports, like Fertilizers and other agricultural commodities. Accordingly, the sanctions that the western nations have placed on the country make matters difficult for Bangladesh. Before the western nations imposed the restrictions and sanctions Bangladesh imported 300,000 tonnes of fertilizers from russia. The import accounted for almost half of the country’s annual requirement.
Bangladesh needs to import more than 90% of the non-urea fertilizers from various countries abroad. Accordingly, the placing of sanctions on trade practices and import restrictions were not in favor of Bangladesh.
Before the Russia-Ukraine War, The government of the country had signed the agreement to import 180,000 tonnes of fertilizers from Russia. While they had imported 60,000 tonnes of the agreed-upon volume, they were yet to import two-thirds of the volume that the two organizations had agreed upon. Meanwhile, the decision of Bangladesh to continue their trade relationship with Russia is in line with India’s similar step.
It is the second nation in the Indian subcontinent to retain their trade ties with Russia, after India. According to reports, India imported 34.19 Lakh tonnes of fertilizers from Russia. This number indicates trade volume from April 2022 to February 2023. This is the highest volume that the EXIM office has recorded in over three years.
