The African nation wants to import 1 million tons of wheat from India.
The African nation wants to import 1 million tons of wheat from India.
Union Trade and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Friday, April 15, 2022 Egypt, one of the largest importers of wheat from Ukraine and Russia, has admitted India as a wheat supplier.
Due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the availability of wheat on world markets has fallen sharply. Both nations are major producers and exporters of wheat.
Egypt imported about $1.8 billion worth of wheat from Russia and $610.8 million from Ukraine in 2020.
The African nation wants to import 1 million tons of wheat from India and would need 2,40,000 tons in April.
“Indian farmers feed the world. Egypt approves India as wheat supplier. Modi Govt. occurs as the world seeks reliable alternative sources of stable food supplies. Our farmers have made our granaries overflow and we are ready to serve the world,” Mr Goyal said in a tweet.
Increase in wheat exports
India’s wheat exports increased to US$1.74 billion in April-January 2021-22 compared to US$340.17 million in the same period last year.
In 2019-20, wheat exports amounted to US$61.84 million, which increased to US$549.67 million in 2020-21.
India’s wheat exports mainly go to neighboring countries, with Bangladesh accounting for the largest share of more than 54 percent in both volume and value in 2020-21. It has opened up new wheat markets such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar and Indonesia.
The top ten importing countries for Indian wheat in 2020-21 were Bangladesh, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar, Indonesia, Oman and Malaysia.
India contributes less than 1 percent to global wheat exports. However, its share has increased from 0.14 percent in 2016 to 0.54 percent in 2020. India is the second largest wheat producer with a share of around 14.14 percent of the total world production in 2020.
India produces around 107.59 million tons of wheat annually, much of which is for domestic consumption.
The main wheat growing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat.
