In a major boost to India’s wheat export, Egypt- one of the biggest importers of wheat has agreed to import wheat from India. “Egypt has approved India as a wheat supplier, said Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday”.  

Egypt imported 61 lakh tonnes of wheat in 2021. Until Friday, India was not on the list of accredited countries which can export wheat to Egypt. More than 80% of Egypt’s wheat import in 2021, worth $ 20 crore, was imported from Russia and Ukraine. The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has led to a sharp decline in the availability of wheat.

During his visit to Dubai last month, Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had also met Egypt’s Minister of Planning & Economic Development Dr Hala El-Said. He discussed India’s readiness to supply high-quality wheat towards ensuring Egypt’s food security.

Officials from Egypt’s agriculture quarantine and pest risk analysis visited various processing units, port facilities and farms in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.

India has set a target of a record 10 million tonnes of wheat export in 2022-23 amid rising global demand for the grain because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “We are aiming to export 3 million tonnes of wheat to Egypt this year,” M Angamuthu, Chairman, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA), said.

India had been a relatively marginal player in the global wheat trade. It could export only about 0.2 mt and 2 mt of wheat in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively. Out of the total shipment around 50% of wheat was exported to Bangladesh in the last fiscal.

Growth in wheat exports is driven mostly by the demand from countries such as Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Oman and Malaysia. However, APEDA is making efforts to boost wheat exports to other countries including Yemen, Afghanistan and Indonesia. The commerce ministry has set up a task force on wheat exports with representatives from various ministries, including commerce, shipping and railways, and exporters under the aegis of APEDA.

(With inputs from IANS)