AMN / WEB DESK
Chairman of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority APEDA, M Angamuthu has said that the Government’s move to restrict wheat exports last month has been primarily focussed on meeting domestic demand while protecting the farmers’ income. He said, India has kept its wheat export options open for those developing countries to meet their food security needs after restriction on shipment of wheat was announced last month. The APEDA Chairman said, requests from several countries for importing wheat from India are being processed at the government level.
Mr Angamuthu said, this year, wheat farmers have been immensely benefitted in terms of procurement by the Government’s agencies at Minimum Support Price, MSP while a significant chunk of commodity has been sold to private trade at much above MSP.
The APEDA Chairman said, the decision to ban wheat export was taken to ensure the availability of wheat for the domestic supply chain. He said, sudden spurt in exports in April created concern over domestic price stability and supply that prompted the Government to take the regulatory measure like restricting wheat export.
The global wheat market is currently volatile at present and prices remain elevated, owing to the shortage caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict