(Mumbai / New York Comprehensive Electric) India has announced that it will immediately ban wheat exports on the grounds that national food security has been threatened, which has caused concerns that global wheat prices will soar again.
India is the world's second -largest wheat producer. Since the outbreak of the Russia and Ukraine in February, the export of wheat in the Black Sea has dropped significantly. The global buyers originally hoped that India could make up for the gap between wheat supply.
At the beginning of this week, India also set a record target for the new fiscal year, and said that the trade delegation was sent to Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia, and the Philippines to discuss the way to further increase shipments.
However, the temperature in India suddenly rose sharply in mid -March, affecting the local harvest.A dealer in New Delhi said that the output of Indian crop may be lower than the government's expected 100 million metric tons, only 100 million metric tons or even lower.
India's ban may push global wheat prices to a new high, which has impacted the poor consumers in Asia and Africa.
A dealer of a global trading company in Mumbai said: "The ban is shocking ... We expect exports to be restricted after two to three months, but the inflation data seems to change the government's thoughts."
The rise in grain and energy prices has pushed India's annual retail inflation rate in April to a new high of eight years, which has strengthened the point of view of economists, that is, the central bank must actively increase interest rates to suppress prices.
India's decision to prohibit wheat exports highlights India's concerns about high inflation, and has also exacerbated trade protectionism implemented by countries to ensure domestic food supply since the beginning of the Russian and Ukraine War: Indonesia has stopped palm oil exports, Serbia and Kazakhstan TanAlso implement quota restrictions on grain exports.
Grain analyst Whitelo said that he had questioned India's expected high output. Due to the poor situation of winter wheat in the United States, France's supply is about to be exhausted, Ukraine exports have been blocked, and wheat began to be seriously lacking in the world.
The Executive Director of the World Grain Planning Department, Bisley, urged Russia to re -open the Black Sea port of Ukraine on Thursday, otherwise millions of people in the world will die due to the shortage of food.
He pointed out that Ukraine's important agricultural products are now staying at the port and cannot be exported. These ports must be put into operation within the next 60 days, otherwise Ukraine's economy centered on agriculture will collapse.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture of the United States show that a variety of agricultural products in Ukraine, including corn, wheat and barley, are ranked among the top five; it is also the main exporter of sunflower seed oil and sunflower seed meal.In 2021, agricultural products accounted for 41%of the total exports of Ukraine.
