SHORTAGE

India Bans Most Wheat Exports Amid Global Food Insecurity

As the nation faces an historic heat wave and soaring food inflation, the Commerce Ministry announced on Friday that its own food security is “at risk.”

As the war in Ukraine keeps food prices stubbornly high, an announcement from India’s Commerce Ministry may exacerbate the crisis: the country is banning all wheat exports, with a few exceptions. When Russia invaded Ukraine, many turned to India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, to help fill the emerging grain gap, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi signified in April that the country was equipped to tap into its wheat reserves and ease the global shortage. Now, however, an historic heat wave in India is damaging crops and food inflation is surging, putting the nation's own food security “at risk” according to the Commerce Ministry. The resulting ban on wheat exports allows for shipments to individual governments facing their own acute food insecurities. One Mumbai-based dealer with a trading firm described the ban as “shocking.”