India clears consignment, ships 61.5k tn of wheat to Egypt
NEW DELHI: India shipped 61,500 tonnes of wheat to Egypt, clearing its largest overseas consignment after the country imposed a ban on the staple’s export. At least a dozen countries have sent diplomatic requests for more shipments, an official aware of the development said, on anonymity.
Of the total shipment bound for Egypt, 17,160 tonnes of wheat were cleared by customs post the ban. However, mandatory formalities, including credit guarantees for the shipment, officially called letters of credit, were secured before India’s export ban took effect, the official said. The shipper of the consignment bound for Egypt, Mera International Private Ltd, was promptly given custom clearances for a portion of wheat that was loaded after the ban took effect and left Gujarat’s Kandla port on May 17.
India, the world’s second-largest wheat grower, on May 13 said it was suspending all private export of wheat to manage its food security which is “at risk”, keeping a window open for overseas shipments on the specific request of a foreign government to “meet their food-security needs”.
Only traders who had secured credit guarantees on or before May 13 are now allowed to export wheat. The official said India will consider shipment requests by foreign government which face a dire food crisis and fulfil its “global commitments”, but declined to name which countries had put in requests to the external affairs ministry.
Wheat output to dip 3% over last year: Centre
India’s wheat output is likely to fall 3% to 106.41 million tonne this year compared to last year’s output of 109.59 million tonne, the agriculture ministry’s third advance estimates of food output, released on Thursday, showed. A scorching summer in several wheat growing states cut yields by up to 20%.