Egypt is planning to import Indian wheat amid a sharp dip in global wheat production, largely due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. For a while, Egypt was one of the largest importers of wheat from Russia and Ukraine.
In 2020, Egypt imported wheat worth $1.8 billion from Russia and $600 million from Ukraine.
Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, met with the Egyptian Minister of Economic Development, Hala El-Said, in Dubai, where the details of the trade were discussed.
India is also looking at increasing its share of exports to countries where it already sends wheat, such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Middle East, Yemen, Korea, the Philippines, Nepal, and Indonesia. At present, India’s wheat contribution to these countries’ import baskets ranges between 2 and 10%.
It is also looking at new export destinations like Nigeria, which imports around 13 million tonnes (MT) of wheat from Russia and Ukraine, Turkey, which imports 11 million tonnes (MT), and Vietnam, which imports 4 million MT. India’s contribution to Vietnam is 1% of its total wheat basket, while it does not export any wheat to Nigeria or Turkey.
India is looking at a wheat production of 11 MT, and its central stock of wheat is expected to be 20 MT by the end of March. “Therefore, there is a huge scope to increase exports.
With this, India is also strengthening the quality check on wheat and certifications in order to bag more orders. The country plans to increase the number of government approved labs with better infrastructure to control certain pests.
India produces around 107.59 million MT of wheat annually and the major wheat growing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Gujarat.
State governments are also exploring various measures to increase wheat exports. Madhya Pradesh, the second largest wheat producing state after Uttar Pradesh, has called a meeting of exporters to facilitate private wheat procurement for exports.