Russia criticises Bangladesh over its wheat testing system

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's grain-quality watchdog said on Thursday Bangladesh had violated international trading standards in the way it tested samples of imported Russian wheat.

Bangladesh said last week it would reject a cargo of 50,000 tonnes of Russian wheat over concerns about its quality. It previously refused two shipments totalling 100,000 tonnes for the same reason.

Experts from Russia's Grain Quality Centre, part of the state Veterinary and Phytosanitary Service, said in a statement they had observed Bangladeshi officials taking samples of Russian wheat and testing them in Bangladesh on April 27.

"These techniques are suitable for domestic use but are absolutely unacceptable in the interaction with countries which are using international standards," the centre said.

According to Bangladesh, the fourth-largest buyer of Russian wheat, the tests confirmed that the quality of the 50,000 tonnes cargo did not match specifications set out in the tender.

The Russian cargo had a test weight of 74.8 kilos per hectolitre against a minimum test weight of 76 kilos and 12.03 percent protein content against the specified 12.5 percent, it said.

The Russian authorities believe both tests were done incorrectly and are awaiting official documents from Bangladeshi officials so they can formally object, the state centre said.

Russia, a major global wheat exporter, supplied 943,000 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh between July and February, making the Asian nation the fourth-largest buyer of Russian wheat this season after Egypt, Turkey and Iran.

Last year, Bangladesh rejected three shipments of French wheat after the grain failed to match tender specifications. It did so after the state buyer faced severe criticism for importing 200,000 tonnes of wheat from Brazil, some of which was found to be substandard.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Andrew Osborn and David Evans)