‘INDIA WILL SHIP WHEAT TO COUNTRIES IN SERIOUS NEED’

NEW DELHI: India will continue to allow wheat export for “friendly countries” which are in “serious need” subject to the government’s permission, commerce and food minister Piyush Goyal has said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

India had on May 13 banned private export of wheat after a scorching summer is estimated to have cut output by at least 5%. India’s move was slammed by G7, a grouping of advanced economies, because it would worsen a global wheat shortage.

Goyal said while the country was expecting a 7%-8% rise in wheat production this year from its rabi or winter-sown crop, severe heatwaves led to early harvest and loss of production. “Given this situation, what we are producing is about enough for domestic consumption,” Goyal said.

Goyal however said India was “never a traditional player in the international wheat market and export of wheat only began about two years ago”. In the year ending March, the country had “already exported 7 million tonne of wheat and the majority of exports took place within the last two months, when the war between Russia-ukraine developed” an official statement quoted Goyal as saying.

“India wheat exports are less than 1% of world trade and our export regulation should not affect global markets. We continue to allow exports to vulnerable countries and neighbours,” the minister said.

Food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey, in a separate briefing in New Delhi, said India had allowed record export of sugar and Tuesday’s decision to limit its export to 10 million tonne was done to maintain domestic price stability in the coming months.

To ensure domestic prices don’t spike, the country will need to maintain at least 6.2 million tonne during the festive season beginning October, which is also a lean period, he said. “This is not a curb. This is less a regulation and more of a monitoring mechanism,” Pandey said.