The U.S. Grains Council hosted its first buyers/sellers conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in March 2024. The goal of the conference was to conduct sales, expand U.S. presence in the Bangladeshi market, and diversify buyers for existing U.S. sellers in the market. The conference resulted in sales of animal feed raw materials, including DDGS, soybeans, soybean meal, and other assorted raw materials. The sales totaled more than 40,000 MT, valued at just over $15 million.
The conference was attended by more than 75 representatives from the Bangladeshi animal feed industry and 18 delegates from the Council and the U.S. feed grain export industry. Nine agribusinesses were represented in the delegation; they participated in the two-day conference, giving presentations about the offerings from their respective companies and engaging in business-to-business meetings with every Bangladeshi company present at the conference. USDA FAS supported the program by bringing regulators from the GSM-102 program to provide financing assistance for those who need it.
Increased interest in Bangladesh as an export market began in 2024. Banking issues kept exports to Bangladesh tempered in past years; however, the Council’s collaboration with USDA FAS and industry has recently led to improvements in issuing letters of credit. By conducting the conference, many new suppliers were introduced to the Bangladeshi market. Six U.S. agribusiness attendees reported first-time sales to the country or sales to a new Bangladeshi customer they met at the conference.
While in Bangladesh, the Council accompanied USDA FAS to meet with the Bangladeshi Department of Livestock Services. They discussed a newly implemented labeling requirement on imports that was impeding trade. Shortly after the meeting, the labeling requirement was abolished, allowing trade to continue to flow at a steady pace to the South Asian nation.
This program was a great success for U.S.-Bangladesh trade, not only in terms of sales but also in creating headway for a trade policy win that came soon after the delegation to Bangladesh. The conference used $260,000 of Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) funding, resulting in a ROI of $57.70 for every dollar of ATP funds invested, as well as a trade policy victory that positively impacted future trade of all U.S. commodities to Bangladesh.