Bangladesh, following India’s footsteps, has decided to import fertilizers from Russia, which is among the world’s top fertilizer producers.

The Sheikh Hasina government has signed a deal to import 180,000 tons of muriate of potash from Russia for the year 2023-24. Bangladesh needs 750,000 tons of fertilizers annually.

The deal was recently signed in Moscow between the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) and Russian Prodintorg.

The Western sanctions on Russia, created difficulties for countries like Bangladesh that depend on imports of fertilizers and agricultural goods from Russia, Dhaka-based sources said.

In the past Bangladesh procured 300,000 tons of fertilizers from Russia.

Before the Russia-Ukraine conflicts the Bangladesh government had signed an agreement to import 180,000 tons of fertilizers from Russia. While Bangladesh imported 60,000 tons of fertilizers, 1,20,000 tons were left to be imported.

In Bangladesh, about 90% of non-urea fertilizers have to be imported from abroad.

India imported 34.19 lakh tonnes of fertilisers, including urea and DAP, from Russia during April-February of the last fiscal, highest in the last three years.