India to allow wheat shipments awaiting customs clearance

• The government has eased the wheat export ban by allowing the consignments already with customs on or before 13 May 22 to go through.
• “It has been decided that wherever wheat consignments have been handed over to Customs for examination and have been registered into their systems on or prior to 13 May 22, such consignments would be allowed to be exported,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.
• A wheat consignment headed for Egypt has also been allowed to proceed. It is under loading at the Kandla port and the Egyptian government had requested to permit it.
• The sudden ban and the confusion over wheat trapped at ports and in transit have thrown grains markets into disarray in states such as Madhya Pradesh, which was at the forefront of India’s wheat exports, traders said.
• “Trading across Madhya Pradesh has stopped,” said Gopaldas Agarwal, chief of a leading traders’ association in the state. “Traders are not buying from farmers as they need to first sort out the cargoes stuck at ports.”
• As a result, local wheat prices have dropped more than 4% since the ban was announced, he said. Farmers across India said they have stopped selling wheat to traders due to the sudden drop in prices.
• Since the ban, trucks loaded with wheat have been waiting at ports, with both truckers and traders incurring losses, Agarwal said.
• Small dealers and exporters who lack money to cover the losses or make payments will be hit the hardest, possibly triggering a chain of defaults, one Mumbai-based trader said.
• The trader, who declined to be named in line with his company’s policy, said the government needed to immediately let the cargoes trapped at ports ship out to avoid losses to farmers, traders, and transport operators.
• The US had called for India to “reconsider” its decision to ban wheat exports, with Washington “encouraging” countries not to restrict exports as that will exacerbate food shortages, amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

External Link : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/government-relaxes-ban-on-wheat-exports/articleshow/91614730.cms

External Link : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/us-hopes-to-convince-india-to-reconsider-wheat-exports-curb-decision/articleshow/91610162.cms

External Link : https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/india-allow-wheat-shipments-awaiting-customs-clearance-govt-2022-05-17/