India to send trade delegations to nine countries to boost wheat exports

India will send trade delegations to nine countries including Morocco, Tunisia, and Indonesia to explore possibilities of boosting wheat shipments as it targets to export 10 million tonnes of the grain in 2022-23.

New Delhi: India will send trade delegations to nine countries including Morocco, Tunisia, and Indonesia to explore possibilities of boosting wheat shipments as it targets to export 10 million tonnes of the grain in 2022-23. The commerce ministry has set up a task force on wheat exports with representatives from various ministries, including commerce, shipping and railways, and exporters under the aegis of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), it said on Thursday.

The ministry also plans to organise a series of meetings on exports in major wheat growing states such as Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. "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," it said.

There is a rise in the demand for Indian wheat in the global markets and farmers, traders and exporters have been advised to follow all the quality norms of the importing countries so that India emerges as a reliable supplier of the grain. According to estimates by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, India exported 7 million tonnes (MT) of wheat in 2021-22 which is valued at USD 2.05 billion.

Out of the total shipment, around 50 per cent 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," it added. More than 80 per cent of Egypt's wheat imports, estimated to be close to USD 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.

PTI