India has constantly been finding new buyers of its wheat in the global markets which feared supply shortage of the key crop when the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in late February.
Russia is the world’s biggest producer and exporter of wheat, with over 18 percent of the total global production. Together with Ukraine, these two countries were fulfilling about a quarter percentage of the world’s wheat requirement, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).
There was a sharp decline in availability of wheat in the global markets due to the geopolitical conflict and India has successfully stepped in to fill the void created in the wheat supply chain.
Egypt, which is one of the largest importers of wheat from Ukraine and Russia, has now approved India as a wheat supplier. The African nation is looking to import 1 million tonnes of wheat from India and would need 2,40,000 tonnes in April.
Egypt imported wheat worth about USD 1.8 billion from Russia and USD 610.8 million from Ukraine in 2020.
“Indian farmers are feeding the world. Egypt approves India as a wheat supplier. Modi Govt. steps in as the world looks for reliable alternate sources for steady food supply. Our farmers have ensured our granaries overflow and we are ready to serve the world,” Goyal said in a tweet.
Many other countries have started sourcing wheat from India after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions against Moscow.
Indian government plans to promote wheat exports to cash in on higher wheat prices in the global market. India is the second-biggest producer of wheat in the world.
India’s wheat exports increased to USD 1.74 billion in April-January 2021-22 as against USD 340.17 million in the same period last year.
In 2019-20, wheat exports were worth USD 61.84 million, which rose to USD 549.67 million in 2020-21.
India’s wheat exports are mainly to neighbouring countries with Bangladesh having the largest share of more than 54 per cent in both volume and value terms in 2020-21. It has entered new wheat markets such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar and Indonesia.
The top ten countries importing Indian wheat in 2020-21 were Bangladesh, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar, Indonesia, Oman and Malaysia.
Last week, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had said that the country’s wheat exports could cross 100 lakh tonnes during the 2022-23 fiscal.
India accounts for less than 1 per cent in the world’s wheat export. However, its share has increased from 0.14 per cent in 2016 to 0.54 per cent in 2020. India is the second largest producer of wheat with a share of around 14.14 per cent in the world’s total production in 2020.
India produces around 107.59 million tonnes of wheat annually while a major chunk of it goes towards domestic consumption.
Traders have entered into contracts for the export of 30-35 lakh tonnes of wheat during the April-July period, buoyed by increasing demand for the commodity in the world market, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey recently said.
