Food security: Turkey rejects Indian wheat, causes health concerns

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Health officials are concerned that India may face a new health problem if the wheat exported to and rejected by Turkey returns to the domestic market for consumption.

According to reports, the Turkish officials denied permission for Indian wheat consignment over phyto-sanitary concerns, prompting a ship to initiate its return journey on May 29.

Now, India is bracing to identify this wheat consignment, trace its lineage, and segregate it from the distribution channels, reports said.

Quoting wheat traders, S&P Global Commodity Insights said on Tuesday that the ship, MV Ince Akdeniz loaded with 56,877 tonnes of durum wheat, is now headed back to Kandla Port in Gujarat from Turkey. The vessel will return to Kandla by mid-June.

“The wheat consignment was detected with the Indian Rubella disease and was rejected by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry,” a trader based in Istanbul told S&P, the media reported.

In the Indian subcontinent, about 40 to 45 percent of women of the child-bearing age are susceptible to Rubella and over two lakh babies are born with birth defects because of this infection during pregnancy.

Turkey’s decision comes when international buyers have been looking to secure wheat supplies. Ongoing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have severely affected its global supply since the two countries account for one-fourth of the global wheat trade.

According to the S&P report, this has made exporters anxious about the future of other wheat shipments headed to different nations, including Egypt, in the next few days. 

When the Russia-Ukraine conflict led to supplies moving out of the market, India emerged as a potential global supplier for wheat exports.

However, on May 13, the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry banned wheat exports, as an intense heatwave hit output and domestic prices soared to a record high.

The sudden ban on wheat exports trapped about 1.8 million tonnes of the grain at ports, potentially forcing traders to take heavy losses.

The Centre said apart from meeting the food grain requirements of neighboring and vulnerable countries, the decision will help control the retail prices of wheat and flour, which have risen by an average of 14 to 20 percent in the last year.

Soon after the announcement, at least 4,000 trucks carrying the food grain were stranded outside the Deendayal Port at Kandla for want of permission from the authorities to load them into vessels, officials said.