A state buyer in Bangladesh has issued an international tender to import 50,000 tonnes of sugar as part of an effort to build reserves and cool domestic prices of the sweetener. The last date of submission of offers is May 7, an official at the state-owned Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation said.
The company last month floated an international tender to import 25,000 tonnes of sugar, due to open on April 23. It has also issued a local tender to procure 20,000 tonnes of sugar, with a bidding deadline of May 3. Bangladesh is now in talks with Brazil, the world's biggest sugar producer and exporter expecting to top last year's record sale of 28 million tonnes, to import 100,000 tonnes of sugar in a government-to-government deal, food officials said.
The Bangladesh government, facing growing public discontent over food inflation close to 12 percent, has moved to speed imports to build reserves of food staples to rein in surging food costs and avoid future supply shocks. Front-month New York raw sugar futures have dropped more than 30 percent since rising to the highest in more than three decades in early February, partly due to bigger-than-expected Thai output and exports from India. Bangladesh largely depends on imported sugar to meet its annual demand of 1.4 million tonnes.
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