India mulls allowing wheat exports to Bangladesh

The government of India has initiated a process to allow exporting wheat to Bangladesh in response to the latter’s request considering food security.

The Bangladesh government made the request in the wake of high prices and low supply of wheat in the domestic market following a ban by the Indian government on wheat export.

As part of the process, the Ministry of External Affairs of India sought some information from Bangladesh including wheat import data and the Bangladesh side has already started to meet their requirements, said senior officials of the food ministry.

The food ministry officials expect India finally will allow wheat export to Bangladesh.

“We are highly dependent on India for wheat. As they imposed a ban on export, we are facing a supply crisis and prices went up in the local market. When the Indian government said that they will allow wheat export to neighbouring countries and the countries suffering from food security crisis, we requested them to allow export to our country,” an additional secretary of the food ministry official told The Business Post.

“So far we understand, India is ready to allow export to Bangladesh. But we have to wait to get a clear picture. Our High Commission is also communicating with them in this regard,” he added.

Bangladesh is almost entirely dependent on wheat imports and is among the crop’s top five importers in the world. The country’s local production meets approximately 13 per cent of the food grain’s total demand.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) calculates the wheat Marketing Year (MY) from June 1 to May 31.

Its data showed that in the first seven months of MY 2021-22, India captured 66 per cent of the market share, followed by Ukraine at 15 per cent, Russia 7 per cent, Canada 6 per cent, and Australia 5 per cent.

India is the world’s second-largest wheat producer, and its commerce ministry in a notice on May 13 banned all wheat exports with immediate effect, with some exceptions, because a sudden spike in the crop’s price had threatened India’s food security.

The notice added that the Indian government will only export shipments for which letters of credit (LCs) were issued on or before the banned day notification, and limited exports will be allowed at the request of neighbours and individual governments whose own food supply is vulnerable.

When India banned wheat export, there were LCs from the Bangladesh government for more than 1.5 lakh tonnes of wheat, according to the food ministry of Bangladesh. Besides, a huge number of LCs were also opened through private sector importers.