FAO Expects India's Wheat Export To Be 7 Million Tonnes In Current Fiscal

Exception to India's wheat export ban - for previous contractual commitments, government-to-government sales, and food security purposes - are expected to support an export forecast of 7 million tonnes in 2022-23, remaining well above India's export average over the past five years, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said.

The United Nations body said in its Food Outlook released on Thursday that global wheat markets are embarking on the 2022-23 season with a "great deal of uncertainty".

“The impacts of the ongoing war in Ukraine, trade policy changes in several countries, and high international prices will shape much of the wheat market outlook,” it said adding that international wheat prices are at levels not reached since 2008, following a season of tight global availability due to reduced harvests in some major exporting countries and export suspensions by others, including Ukraine (a major exporter) and India (an emerging exporter), along with supply concerns for 2022-23 also adding pressure.

Global wheat production in 2022 is predicted to decline from the 2021 record level by 0.8 per cent, reaching 771 million tonnes and marking the first drop in four years. Year-on-year falls in production in Australia, India, Morocco and Ukraine will likely outweigh expected increases in Canada, Iran and Russia.

The report said that driving much of the predicted contraction in world trade in 2022-23, exports by Ukraine, a major wheat exporter, are forecast to fall by nearly 50 per cent (down 9 million tonnes) from the previous season based on the assumption of continued war-related export disruptions.

In India, a ban on wheat exports announced last month, “is also seen limiting shipments in 2022-23 after the country greatly increased its market share in 2021-22, amid lower exports from Ukraine, high domestic supplies following a record production in 2021, and competitive prices that helped to open trade with new markets, including Egypt and Vietnam.

However, exceptions to the export ban for previous contractual commitments, government-to-government sales, and food security purposes are expected to support an export forecast of 7 million tonnes in 2022-23, remaining well above India's export average over the past five-years.”

Further, it said that in Asia, wheat production in India is forecast at 105.5 million tonnes, down nearly 4 per cent from the record crop gathered in 2021.

Despite an above-average planted area, motivated by an increase in the government's procurement price and favourable weather early in the season, this year's foreseen decline is precipitated by unseasonably high temperatures in March and April that resulted in lower-than-expected yields and localised crop losses, it said.

Last month, India announced that it is banning wheat exports in a bid to check high prices amid concerns of wheat output being hit by a scorching heat wave. Wheat exports were allowed on the basis of permission granted by the Government of India to other countries to meet their food security needs and based on the request of their governments.