India Bans Wheat Exports, Cites Food Security and Soaring Prices

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India bans wheat exports, invites G7 criticism on social media

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A woman sorts wheat harvested on the outskirts of Jammu while India is in the throes of a record-shattering heatwave that is stunting wheat production [File: Channi Anand/AP]

By News Agencies
Published On 14 May 2022

India has banned exports of wheat effective immediately, citing a risk to food security, partly due to the war in Ukraine and as a scorching heatwave curtailed output and domestic prices hit a record high.

Although not one of the world’s top wheat exporters, India’s ban could drive global prices to new peaks given already tight supply, hitting poor consumers in Asia and Africa particularly hard.

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Agriculture ministers from the G7 industrialised nations immediately condemned India’s decision on Saturday.

“If everyone starts to impose export restrictions or to close markets, that would worsen the crisis,” German agriculture minister Cem Ozdemir said at a news conference in Stuttgart.

“We call on India to assume its responsibility as a G20 member,” Ozdemir said.

Government officials in New Delhi said on Saturday that India would still allow exports backed by already issued letters of credit and to countries that request supplies "to meet their food security needs". The ban would not be in perpetuity and could be revised, the officials told a news conference.

A spike in the global prices for wheat threatened the food security of India and neighbouring and vulnerable countries, India’s Directorate of Foreign Trade said in a notice in the government gazette dated Friday.

Although there was no dramatic fall in India’s wheat output this year, government officials said that unregulated exports had led to a rise in local prices for the grain.

“We don’t want wheat trade to happen in an unregulated manner or hoarding to happen,” commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyam told reporters in New Delhi.

Wheat prices in India have risen to record highs, in some spot markets hitting 25,000 rupees ($320) per tonne, well above the government’s minimum support price of 20,150 rupees ($260).

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“The ban is shocking,” a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm said.

"We were expecting curbs on exports after two…"