India bans wheat exports over food safety concerns

The main objective of the measure is to control the rise in prices in the domestic market, which have risen by more than 40% globally since the beginning of the year.

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India has banned wheat exports with immediate effect over food security risks caused in part by the war in Ukraine.

In a notice published in the government gazette on Friday, the Directorate of Foreign Trade said the global rise in wheat prices is threatening food security in India and neighbouring and vulnerable countries.

The main objective of the measure is to control the rise in prices in the domestic market, which have risen by more than 40% globally since the beginning of the year.

Before the war, Ukraine and Russia accounted for a third of global wheat and barley exports. But since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, Ukrainian ports have been paralyzed and civilian infrastructure and grain silos have been destroyed.

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At the same time, the Indian wheat crop has been hit by an unprecedented heatwave that has reduced production.

Although it is the world’s second-largest wheat producer, India consumes most of its wheat. It had set a target of exporting 10 million tonnes in 2022 and 2023 to take advantage of disruptions in the global supply chain caused by the war, and to find new markets for its wheat in Europe, Africa and Asia.

Much of these exports would go to other developing nations such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

In addition to weather problems affecting harvests, the country’s vast wheat reserves — a hedge once morest famine — have been depleted by the free distribution of grain to some 800 million people during the pandemic.

To balance supply and demand, the government needs regarding 25 million tons of wheat annually for a vast food security program that typically feeds more than 80 million people.