Representative photo. Your order is made to your specification by a verified seller. Photo: “Whole wheat grain flour being scooped” by Margaret Hoogstrate, CC BY 3.0.

Wheat flour exporter in Bangladesh

Buying from a wheat flour exporter in Bangladesh? Tell Roptan if you need atta, maida or sooji, and what you make with it. We agree the specification with a verified mill, check each lot against it, and deliver or ship.

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Prefer to deal with suppliers yourself? Post it on the requirement board

Buying wheat flour in Bangladesh

Atta is whole wheat flour, usually made in Bangladesh by grinding whole wheat in larger mills or roller flour mills. Maida is endosperm only, usually bleached and very white; sooji is coarse-ground endosperm, or semolina. Households usually buy atta for chapatis and parathas, while ready-made bread is mainly maida. Bakeries, noodle and biscuit makers and importers buy in bulk.

Atta and maida need different specifications, and a wheat flour exporter in Bangladesh should treat them as two products. Roptan agrees the type, moisture, ash, protein and falling number with a verified mill, checks the mill's hygiene certificate, has each lot tested and inspected for insects and odours, then delivers to your site or ships.

Kinds of wheat flour

Atta

Whole wheat flour, endosperm and bran together, for chapatis and parathas. The Codex wheat flour standard excludes whole-wheat flour, so atta needs a buyer or BSTI specification.

Maida

Refined white flour from the endosperm only, the main flour in ready-made bread. Codex CXS 152-1985 is the usual base for its contract.

Sooji

Coarse-ground endosperm, or semolina. Codex excludes semolina from its wheat flour standard, and customs class it apart from flour, so order it as a separate line.

Fortified atta

Atta with added vitamins and minerals under BSTI's BDS 1793:2008, which also sets hygiene, packing and labelling. Ask for the fortificant list on the label.

Bread and cake flour

Bread flour is milled from hard wheat, high in gluten; cake flour from soft wheat, low in protein. State what you bake so the mill blends the wheat to suit.

How to specify wheat flour

Type and extraction: Atta, maida or sooji, and the extraction rate. Whole-grain flour usually leaves about 2 g ash per 100 g, white flour at 50 to 60 per cent extraction about 0.4 g.
Moisture: Codex allows up to 15.5 per cent for wheat flour and advises lower limits for long transport and storage. For atta, agree the limit with the mill.
Protein and gluten: Bread flour usually carries 12 to 14 per cent gluten. Give the figure your process needs and the test method.
Falling number: Measures amylase activity, which shows sprout damage in the wheat, to ISO 3093. With protein and ash, it predicts baking and noodle performance.
Ash: Tested to ISO 2171; it shows how much bran remains, so it separates atta from maida.
Treatment: Bleached or unbleached, and which improvers your market allows. Codex lists treatment agents with limits, but the importing country decides.

Standards and tests for wheat flour

Codex CXS 152-1985: The Codex Standard for Wheat Flour covers flour from common wheat, such as maida. It excludes whole-wheat flour, semolina and durum flour.
BDS 1793:2008: BSTI's specification for fortified wheat atta: composition, fortificants, hygiene, packing, labelling and the BSTI certification mark. Roptan checks per order whether the mark is required.
Regulation (EU) 2023/915: EU limits that reach wheat flour: deoxynivalenol 600 micrograms/kg for milling products of cereals since July 2024, aflatoxin B1 2.0 and total aflatoxins 4.0 micrograms/kg, and cadmium 0.10 mg/kg set on the wheat grain.
HACCP or ISO 22000: A current hygiene certificate for the mill, since raw flour is not a ready-to-eat food and can carry bacteria such as E. coli.

What moves the price of wheat flour

Extraction rate: white maida is taken at a lower extraction rate than whole-wheat atta.
Wheat: hard, high-protein wheat for bread flour usually costs more than soft wheat for cakes.
Fortification: the vitamin and mineral premix adds cost per tonne.
Limits you set: tighter ash, gluten and falling number figures narrow the wheat the mill can use.
Pack: small printed retail packs cost more per tonne than large bags.

Lead times and delivery

We give no standard lead time or minimum for wheat flour. A mill's regular grade from stock moves faster than flour blended to a new specification, which needs a trial lot and lab results. Printed retail packs add time for bag artwork and printing. Roptan confirms dates and the minimum in the quote.

Inside Bangladesh, Roptan delivers flour to bakeries, food factories and caterers with a weight list, lab reports and a VAT invoice (Mushak 6.3). Wheat, flour and atta are on the Mandatory Jute Packaging Act 2010 list, so bulk sacks usually go in jute; BDS 1793 itself calls for jute above 65 kg and suggests packs of 500 g to 5 kg.

Buying wheat flour for export

Atta and maida both export under HS 1101, wheat or meslin flour; sooji goes under HS 1103, cereal groats and meal. The UK and EU tariff splits wheat flour into durum and common wheat. If you claim a duty preference, origin is checked against that scheme's rule before shipping. We quote FOB Chattogram, with the seller's Export Registration Certificate.

What we check for this order

Atta or maida specThe right specification for the type: Codex for maida, your sheet or BDS 1793 for atta, written into the order.
Sample inspectionNo rancidity, insects, rodent or fungus damage, musty or fermented odour, or extraneous matter in samples from the lot.
Lab figures per lotMoisture, ash, protein or gluten and falling number measured on your lot against the agreed figures.
Mill hygieneA current HACCP or ISO 22000 certificate in the mill's name, and microbiology results where you ask for them.

Questions buyers ask

What is the difference between atta and maida?

Atta is whole wheat flour, with the bran milled in, so it is darker and higher in ash and fibre. Maida is the endosperm only, usually bleached and very white. They answer to different standards: Codex covers maida, while atta needs a buyer or BSTI specification.

Is fortified wheat flour mandatory in Bangladesh?

Bangladesh has a BSTI standard for fortified atta, BDS 1793:2008. Whether fortification or the BSTI mark is required for your product and pack is a question Roptan checks per order with the mill and BSTI's current list.

What does the falling number tell me?

It shows sprout damage in the wheat by measuring amylase activity, to ISO 3093. It is one of the figures that predict baking and noodle performance, so bakeries and noodle makers usually state a minimum falling number in the order.

Should I ask for bleached or unbleached flour?

It depends on your market. Codex lists treatment agents with maximum levels, but many importing countries restrict some of them. Tell us where the flour goes and what you make, and we state bleached or unbleached and any improvers in the order.

How soon will I hear back about rice and flour?

Within 48 hours of a complete requirement, with a price and a delivery date. A requirement is complete when it has the quantity, where it is needed and by when.

Who do I deal with?

With Roptan, when Roptan manages the order: we buy from the verified seller and deliver to you. With the supplier directly, when you post on the requirement board and choose a quote yourself.