India’s wheat export ban comes day after APEDA’s stakeholder meet for wheat export promotion
16 May 2022
India’s wheat export ban comes a day after the government proposed to send trade delegations to Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Algeria and Lebanon for exploring possibilities of boosting wheat exports from India. India has set an export target of a record 10 million tonnes of wheat in 2022-23 amid rising global demand for the grain. The ministry of commerce and industry has already set up a task force on wheat exports with representatives from various ministries, including commerce, shipping and railways, and exporters under the aegis of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
The Department of Commerce has also planned to organise a series of such sensitisation meetings on exports in major wheat growing states such as Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The APEDA organised one such interactive meeting with various stakeholders, including farmers, traders and exporters, in Karnal, Haryana for promotion of wheat export and ensuring shipment of quality produce. The stakeholders meet was organised in collaboration with ICAR-Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal, where experts discussed opportunities and challenges in the sphere of wheat export.
Since there is a rise in the demand for Indian wheat in the global market, farmers, traders and exporters have been advised to follow all the quality norms of importing countries so that India emerges as a reliable supplier of wheat globally. “We are extending our support to all the stakeholders in the wheat exports value chain for boosting shipment from the country,” M Angamuthu, chairman, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA), said.
According to estimates by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, India has exported a record 7 million tonne (MT) of wheat in 2021-22, which is valued at $2.05 billion. Out of the total shipment around 50 per cent of wheat was exported to Bangladesh in the last fiscal.
Recently, Egypt, which is one of the world’s biggest importers of wheat, had agreed to source wheat from India. Egyptian authorities have put India as one of the origins for this strategic commodity. Egypt imported 6.1 million tonnes of wheat in 2021 and India was not part of the list of accredited countries, which can export wheat to Egypt. More than 80 per cent of Egypt’s wheat imports, estimated to be close to $2 billion in 2021, were from Russia and Ukraine. APEDA has already communicated to exporters to register with Egypt’s public procurement agency – General Authority of Supplies and Commodities, which manages wheat and sugar imports to the North African country.