SME Times News Bureau | 12 May, 2022
The Centre will send
trade delegations to Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand,
Vietnam, Turkey, Algeria and Lebanon for exploring possibilities of boosting
wheat exports from India.
India has set a
target of a record 10 million tonnes of wheat in the 2022-23 amid rising global
demand for the grain globally.
The Ministry of
Commerce & Industry has already set up a task force on wheat exports with
representatives from various ministries, including commerce, shipping and
railways, and exporters under the aegis of the Agricultural and Processed Food
Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
The Department of
Commerce has also planned to organise a series of such sensitization meetings
on exports in major wheat growing states such as Punjab, Haryana, Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The APEDA organised
one such interactive meeting with various stakeholders including farmers,
traders and exporters in Karnal, Haryana for promotion of wheat
export and ensuring shipment of quality produce.
The stakeholders meet
was organised in collaboration with ICAR-Institute of Wheat and Barley
Research, Karnal, where experts discussed opportunities and challenges in the
sphere of wheat export.
There is a rise in
the demand for Indian wheat in the global market, farmers, traders and
exporters have been advised to follow all the quality norms of importing
countries so that India emerges as a reliable supplier of wheat globally.
“We are extending our
support to all the stakeholders in the wheat exports value chain for boosting shipment
from the country,” M Angamuthu, Chairman, Agricultural and Processed Food
Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA), said.
According to
estimates by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, India has exported a
record 7 million tonne (MT) of wheat in 2021-22 which is valued at $ 2.05
billion. Out of the total shipment around 50% of wheat was exported to
Bangladesh in the last fiscal.
Recently, Egypt,
which is one of the world’s biggest importers of wheat, had agreed to source
wheat from India.
Egyptian authorities
have put India as one of the origins for this strategic commodity.
Egypt imported 6.1 MT
of wheat in 2021 and India was not part of the list of accredited countries
which can export wheat to Egypt. More than 80% of Egypt’s wheat imports
estimated to be close to $ 2 billion in 2021 were from Russia and Ukraine.
APEDA has already
communicated to exporters to register with Egypt’s public procurement agency –
General Authority of Supplies and Commodities, which manages wheat and sugar
imports to the north African country.