India’s wheat exports pick up after the Russo-Ukraine war
new Delhi:
India’s wheat exports picked up after a jump in global prices following Russia’s war with Ukraine, as total shipments from the country touched a record 6.6 million tonnes during the current fiscal.
This information was given by Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey on Saturday.
Addressing media persons, Mr Pandey said the current global situation is an “opportunity” for Indian exporters as the new wheat crop will be available from March 15 sooner than other global wheat producers.
India is the world’s second largest producer of wheat in the world.
Russia and Ukraine together make up about a quarter of the global wheat supply. His wheat crop will ripen in August and September this year. As a result, global wheat prices have already risen and are in the range of Rs 24,000-25,000 per tonne.
“As a result, Indian wheat exports have picked up. By the end of February, we have already exported 6.6 million tonnes of wheat,” the food secretary said during a virtual press conference.
He said so far wheat exports have crossed the all-time high of 65 lakh tonnes achieved in the financial year 2012-13.
“There is still a month left, you can expect exports of around 7 million tonnes this year,” he said. He said that this is good news for Indian farmers and exports.
India’s wheat production is estimated to touch a new record of 111.32 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June), as against 109.59 million tonnes in the previous year, according to the second advance estimate of the agriculture ministry.
Wheat, the main Rabi (winter) crop, will start arriving in the market from March 15. There is also surplus stock of wheat in government godowns in the country.
Other global players will enter the market later, after the end of their summer season.
“We will have sufficient stock of wheat and the new crop will also be available to private players for general export,” he said.
When asked about exports of other commodities, the Secretary said that sugar exports are also expected to reach 7.5 million tonnes in the 2021-22 marketing year (October-September), which is much higher than the 2 million tonnes in the previous year, Which is buoyed by strong global prices.
He said the demand for Indian sugar is increasing not because of Russia-Ukraine crisis but because of tight supply of sweetener for export purposes in the global market, which has pushed up the international rates.