Indian Government will roll out measures to boost wheat exports by exempting wheat farmers from paying Mandi tax till June end, with Madhya Pradesh leading among all States.
India is looking out to be a prominent wheat exporter, taking full advantage of global trade
disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, announced a waiver of 1.5% Mandi fees for wheat grain purchases in the state to support exports. The state is the second-biggest producer of wheat in the country.
Egypt trade delegation visit to India
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has waived off Mandi tax till June end to increase global exports of wheat. This announcement came in the wake of the current visit of the delegation from Egypt, one of the biggest importers of wheat. The delegation plans to explore opportunities of sourcing grain from India to meet its domestic demands. Egypt, which imports 12 million tonnes of wheat annually, has communicated that it would like to buy wheat from India. The Egyptian trade delegation that arrived on April 10 will visit processing units, facilities, and farms in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab before returning on April 15.
Ports prioritizing dedicated channels for wheat
Reuters reported that Egypt has confirmed to add Indian wheat to 16 other national imports. This move is because African nations are trying to increase imports interrupted by the Russian-Ukraine war, which has opened up new avenues for India to export a few other commodities like maize and sugar to other countries. India railways have started preparing to increase wheat for exports by running special trains.
Around 250 wagons have been set aside for wheat transportation from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana to Mumbai ports. All ports are extensively prioritized for exporting grains. An exporter stated that due to wheat shipments being given priority, the shipment of other grains, like rice, has been affected. Similar to the last economic year, India has made a record by exporting over 7.7 million tonnes (mt). Wheat is also exported from the eastern ports of Kakinada and Visakhapatnam, besides Kandia, Mundra, and Nava Shava.
African and southeast Asian countries’s demands rise
A Delhi-based exporter Rajesh Paharia has stated that Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh have been exporting wheat from Kakinada and Visakhapatnam ports.During his meeting with US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that India is ready to supply food to the global community if the World Trade Organisation comes on board. Apart from Egypt, countries in Africa and South and South-East Asia are looking up to India to fill the gaps in wheat supply caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Few nations like Bangladesh and Egypt have started relaxing their norms to receive Indian wheat. India has started improving the grading and cleaning activities of its wheat to support more exports.
FCI and wheat stocks
The Center is trying to ensure that FCI has enough wheat stocks for distribution through the public distribution system to all groups under various welfare measures. FCI had obtained 2.05 million tonnes of wheat since April 1. Of this, 7.86 lakh tonnes have been from Punjab, 7.68 lakh tonnes from Haryana, and 4.95 lakh tonnes from Madhya Pradesh.
FCI is going strong all-around to purchase more wheat. One major development is that the
wheat record harvest has been predicted at 111.32 million tonnes as against 109.59 mt last year. The Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board that operates Kakinada port, mostly used for rice exports, is to be extended for wheat exports. India’s wheat exports are mainly from Madhya Pradesh due to its closeness to the Kandia and Mundra ports. As per the estimates provided by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, India exported 7mt of wheat in 21-22, valued at $2.05 billion. More than 50% of the wheat was exported to
Bangladesh last year.
