World condemns India

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India is being condemned globally for imposing ban on its wheat exports so the world is banking on to alleviate supply shortages caused by the Ukraine conflict, claiming that the country’s food security is jeopardized. The world is starting to get very short of wheat. Limiting exports would be a setback for India’s hopes of capitalizing on the global wheat surge after the war disrupted trade flows out of the Black Sea breadbasket region. Importing countries have turned to India for supply, with key consumer Egypt recently approving India as an origin for wheat imports. The move to halt wheat exports reflects India’s concerns about increasing inflation, and it adds to a wave of food protectionism that has occurred since the conflict began. With agricultural prices on the rise, governments around the world are scrambling to safeguard local food supplies. Indonesia has halted palm oil exports, while Serbia and Kazakhstan have imposed grain limitations.
At the moment, winter wheat in the United States is in bad condition, supplies in France are running low, and Ukraine’s exports are blocked. A record-breaking heatwave has harmed wheat crops across South Asia, pushing the government to contemplate export limits. Even though the government slashed predictions for India’s wheat production, the Indian Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution claimed there was no need to prohibit exports. Shipments with irrevocable letters of credit that have already been issued will still be allowed, the latest notification said. Traders have contracted to export 4 million tonnes so far in 2022-2023, the food ministry said on May 4. After Egypt, Turkey has also given the approval to import wheat from India. After the war hampered logistics in the Black Sea region, which accounts for about one-quarter of all wheat trade, India has tried to fill the vacuum. The country targeted to export a record 10 million tonnes in 2022-2023. India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, said that factors including lower wheat production and sharply higher global prices because of the war meant that it was now worried about its own food security. All export deals agreed before the directive issued on Friday could still be honoured, but all future shipments needed to have government approval. Therefore, agriculture ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations have also condemned India’s decision to ban unapproved wheat exports after the country was hit by a punishing heatwave. If everyone starts to impose export restrictions or close markets that would worsen the crisis.
However, exports could also take place if New Delhi approved a request by other governments to meet their food security needs. The decision came as global agricultural markets were under severe stress due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The traditional breadbasket has seen shipments disrupted, with the Ukrainian agriculture minister travelling to Stuttgart for discussions with G7 colleagues on getting its product out. Some 20 million tonnes of wheat were sitting in Ukrainian silos and urgently needed to be exported. Before the invasion, Ukraine exported 4.5 million tonnes of agricultural produce per month through its ports — 12% of the planet’s wheat, 15% of its corn and half of its sunflower oil. But with the ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and others cut off from the world by Russian warships, the supply can only travel on congested land routes that are much less efficient. At this critical juncture, ministers of the G7 industrialised nations urged countries around the world not to take restrictive action that could pile further stress on the produce markets.