India bans wheat export: From Argentina to Turkey, countries that have stopped overseas food trade

In April, when the world began reeling from a wheat shortage owing to the Russia-Ukraine war, India stepped up and announced that it would bridge the gap and export wheat to countries.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had then tweeted ‘Modi government steps in as world looks for reliable alternate sources for steady food supply’.

Indian farmers are feeding the world.

Egypt approves India as a wheat supplier. Modi Govt. steps in as world looks for reliable alternate sources for steady food supply.

Our farmers have ensured our granaries overflow & we are ready to serve the world.https://t.co/h56oSc3HDC

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 15, 2022

However, the celebrations and praise came to a screeching halt on 13 May, a month later, when India reversed its position, banning wheat exports after prices rose and a record-breaking heatwave damaged crops.

Also read: India bans wheat export: What is durum, common bread, and sharbati varieties of wheat and how are they different?

Agriculture ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations condemned India’s decision to ban wheat exports. “If everyone starts to impose export restrictions or to close markets, that would worsen the crisis,” German agriculture minister Cem Ozdemir said at a press conference in Stuttgart as per AFP.

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On 19 May, India justified its wheat ban at the United Nations Security Council, saying that the measure would help the country manage its food security while still supporting vulnerable countries.

“In order to manage our own overall food security and support the needs of neighbouring and other vulnerable developing countries, we have announced some measures regarding wheat exports on 13 May 2022. Let me reaffirm that these measures allow for export on the basis of approvals to those countries who are required to meet their food security demands. This will be done on the request from the concerned governments,” Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said.

#IndiainUNSC#UNSC Open Debate on Maintenance of International Peace & Security - Conflict and Food Security

Highlights of Statement by Hon’ble Minister of State for External Affairs Shri V. Muraleedharan @MOS_MEA⤵️@MEAIndia @VMBJP @DrSJaishankar @M_Lekhi @RanjanRajkuma11 pic.twitter.com/zLk8iJ5otX

— India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) May 19, 2022

However, the wheat ban by India is part of a larger problem of food insecurity fears. Many countries have also implemented a ban on other food exports as a result of the Ukraine crisis.

Countries banning food exports

Ukraine: Battling Russia’s offensive, Ukraine closed down its ports early in the war. It then announced that it would be banning export of rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, sugar, salt, and meat and introduced export licenses for wheat, corn and sunflower oil.

The ban on exports is effective till 31 December 2022. Ukraine’s decision to ban food exports has threatened the food supply and livelihoods of people in Europe, Africa and Asia who rely on the vast, fertile farmlands of the Black Sea region — known as the “breadbasket of the world”.

Russia: In March, the Vladimir Putin-led country announced a ban on exports of sunflower seeds till 31 August.

Russia and Ukraine are the world’s largest producers, accounting for 73 per cent of the global supply of sunflower oil, according to the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC), a non-profit organisation based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Russia also imposed a 700,000-ton export quota on sunflower meal and that will run to 31 August.

The country also suspended exports of wheat, meslin, rye, barley and corn until 30 June in a move to secure its home market with enough food.

Argentina: Argentina capped the volume of corn and wheat that could be exported in a bid to head off domestic grains shortages and tamp down rising food values in the country. The decision sent US corn prices to their highest in six-and-a-half years, reported Reuters.

Egypt: On 12 March, Egypt said it was banning exports of all kinds of vegetable oil and corn for three months. The country also announced that it was banning exports of lentils, pasta, wheat, flour and fava beans for three months.

Iran: Iran has indefinitely banned the export of potatoes, onions, tomatoes and eggplant. Iranian deputy minister of agriculture Jihad Abbas Askarzadeh in a letter said, “As a result of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a number of incidents have taken place in world markets, and the demand for some agricultural products in world markets has increased. At the same time, import duties on agricultural products in neighbouring countries have also been reduced. In addition, there is a need to regulate prices in the domestic market of Iran.”

Serbia: The European country has restricted the quantities of wheat, corn, flour and cooking oil slated for export till the end of this year.

Turkey: The Recep Tayyip Erdoğan-led country has put a ban on a variety of grain products as well as on beef, mutton, goat meat and butter. These restrictions will continue until 31 December.

Indonesia: Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, had imposed an export ban on several palm oil based products late April in an attempt to secure domestic supply and bring down soaring prices.

The move had a cascading effect, making global vegetable oil prices soar across the board.

However, on Thursday, President Joko Widodo said that his country would lift its palm oil export ban from Monday, 23 May, following improvements in the domestic cooking oil supply situation.

A hungry world

The export restrictions, according to International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a Washington DC-based organisation, had affected 17 per cent of the world’s food, as measured by the amount of calories traded, by early April, reports Quartz, adding the situation will only worsen as time passes.

The prices of food grains and cooking oil have surged — from mid-February to May 17, prices of wheat have increased 60 per cent, while edible oil has increased by 25-40 per cent.

Meanwhile, fertilizer prices have increased 30 per cent since the start of 2022, on top of an 80 per cent increase in 2021, according to the World Bank. This will continue to drive up prices for food across the board.

The United Nations highlighting how precarious the situation was said, as per a New York Times report, that at least 276 million people now face acute food insecurity, up from 135 million before the pandemic, and 49 million people in 43 countries are at the brink of famine.

“We truly are in an unprecedented crisis. Food pricing is our number 1 problem right now, as a result of all this perfect storm for 2022. But in 2023 it very well will be a food availability problem,” said David Beasley, the executive director of the UN’s World Food Program.

With inputs from agencies

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