Gift of the Nile? Egypt to import wheat from India
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The world’s oldest civilization, Egypt, had earned the sobriquet of being the “Gift of the Nile” as the great river had converted it into a fertile bowl of food grain for the ancient world.
Now, Egypt will import wheat from India, with whose predecessor, the Indus Valley Civilization, it had trading relations for centuries.
With the 51-day-old, inconclusive Russia-Ukraine war shifting the USD 130 billion global food grain trade—the two countries, known as the Breadbasket of Europe, controlled a fourth of this international business—new players have emerged in this sector.
India is one of them with Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Gujarat being the major wheat-growing states.
On Friday, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Egypt, one of the largest importers of wheat from Russia and Ukraine, has now approved India as a wheat supplier.
The Russia-Ukraine war has declined the export of wheat and other grain from the two countries. Many countries, including Egypt, are facing a sharp decline in the availability of wheat in the global markets.
In 2020, Egypt imported wheat worth about USD 1.8 billion from Russia and USD 610.8 million from Ukraine. Now it plans to import 1 million tonnes of wheat from India. Of this, it would need 2,40,000 tonnes in April itself.
“Indian farmers are feeding the world. Egypt approves India as a wheat supplier. Modi Govt. steps in as the world looks for reliable alternate sources for a steady food supply. Our farmers have ensured our granaries overflow and we are ready to serve the world,” Goyal said in a tweet.
India’s total wheat exports increased to USD 1.74 billion in the April 2021-January 2022 period as against USD 340.17 million in the corresponding period before that, the media reported.
In 2019-20, wheat exports were worth USD 61.84 million, which rose to USD 549.67 million in 2020-21.
India exports wheat mainly to neighboring countries, with Bangladesh accounting for over 54 percent of it, in both volume and value terms, in 2020-21. Now India has entered new wheat markets such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar, and Indonesia.
The top ten countries importing Indian wheat in 2020-21 were Bangladesh, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar, Indonesia, Oman, and Malaysia.
India accounts for less than 1 percent of the world’s wheat export. However, its share has increased from 0.14 percent in 2016 to 0.54 percent in 2020. After China, it is the second-largest producer of wheat with a share of around 14.14 percent of the world’s total production in 2020. Russia is the third-largest wheat producer. Together, these three countries produce nearly 41 percent of the world’s total wheat.
India produces around 107.59 million tonnes of wheat annually but a major chunk of it goes towards domestic consumption.
