Green signal for wheat consignments held at ports

Relaxing the restrictions on wheat exports, the government said that the consignments handed over to customs before May 13 will be allowed to be exported.

The government had prohibited wheat exports from May 13 as the ongoing heat wave poses significant risks to domestic wheat output.

On Tuesday, the government relaxed the norms. "…it is further clarified that wherever wheat consignments have been handed over to the customs for examination and have been registered into their systems on or prior to May 13, such consignments shall be allowed to be exported…", it said.

According to Barclays, this will honour 4.5 million tonnes of wheat export contracts signed prior to May 13.

A PTI report said the ban on wheat export by the Centre has left at least 4,000 trucks carrying the food grain stranded outside Deendayal Port at Kandla in Gujarat for want of permission from authorities to load them into vessels. A three-day holiday last weekend (Saturday to Monday) at the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has kept four vessels berthed at the port awaiting additional permission to load following the ban notified on May 13.

From the Deendayal Port in Kutch district, wheat is primarily transported to African countries, Bangladesh, South Korea and Yemen.

Meanwhile, Washington's top diplomat to the United Nations hoped that India will reverse its ban on wheat exports, warning the move would worsen global shortages of the commodity.

"We're encouraging countries not to restrict exports because we think any restrictions on exports will exacerbate the food shortages," Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during a ministerial gathering on food security ahead of a meeting of the UN Security Council.

The UN meeting, to be chaired by US secretary of state Antony Blinken, will include India's minister of state for external affairs V. Muraleedharan.