Centre to hold high-level meeting on Thursday to boost wheat exports

Move follows rising global demand for Indian wheat due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis

Amid rising global demand for Indian wheat due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the Central government has called a high-level meeting on Thursday with top exporters from the country, port authorities, state governments and also secretaries from the department of agriculture, shipping, commerce and Railways.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, which is one of the country's foremost wheat producing states is also expected to attend the meeting.

Sources said the meeting is expected to discuss ways and means to boost wheat exports from India and clear all the bottlenecks so that the country manages to take advantage of the favorable global conditions.

India is poised to export a record over 7 million tonnes of wheat in FY-22 due to the sudden surge in demand following the Russia-Ukraine crisis, which can go upto to almost 10 million tonnes in Fy-23 if conditions continue to remain benign.

At present, Indian wheat is among the cheapest in the world markets priced at around $330-340 per tonne (FOB), while rates of all other countries are considerably higher.

In a related development, news agency Reuters reported today that Lebanon is planning a tender to import 50,000 tonnes of wheat from India, the country’s economy minister said.

"India is the first state to give me a final answer on quantities and tomorrow it will give me an answer on the price," Economy Minister Amin Salam said.

Last week, the Union commerce ministry said that India is in final talks to start wheat export to Egypt while discussions are going on with countries like China, Turkey, China and Iran to begin the outbound shipments of the commodity.