FAO has painted a gloomy picture of Bangladesh’s food exports. In 2022, Bangladesh exported food products worth US$975,000. Half of this was frozen seafood, including shrimp and mackerel. It also exported fruits and vegetables, food grains like rice and maize, meat, edible oils, ghee, honey and dairy products, the target consumers being expatriate Bangladeshis. It is rarely exported to the international market by multinational companies.
Bangladesh’s dependence on food imports from the global market is increasing, the FAO report said. Bangladesh imported 9.3 percent of its total food demand in 2010 and this will increase to 11.2 percent in 2022. In that time, Bangladesh’s imports of rice, wheat and edible oil have been increasing. But due to the dollar crisis, hardly any rice was imported this year. Wheat import also reduced by 30 percent from the normal quantity.
The report highlights the per capita calorie consumption of all countries. On average, each person globally consumes 2978 calories per day. In Asia the average is 2931 calories. Per capita calorie consumption in Bangladesh is 2614 calories. Of the total calories in Bangladesh, 1288 calories come from rice and wheat or other food grains. After this comes edible oil with 203 calories, sugar with 83 calories, fruits with 94 calories and potato with 175 calories. People in Bangladesh get only 20 calories from meat, 55 calories from milk and eggs, 40 calories from soft drinks and 52 calories from fish.