India’s wheat export ban a cause of 'deep concern', says US agriculture secretary

"What we need is transparency in the market, what we need is a market that is helping to get goods to those who are in need," Vilsack told reporters on a call.

Expressing disappointment over India’s decision to ban wheat exports, German agriculture minister Cem Ozdemir said such restrictions would “worsen the (global) crisis”.

“If everyone starts to impose export restrictions or to close markets, that would worsen the crisis,” Ozdemir said after the meeting of G-7 agriculture ministers in Stuttgart on Saturday..

The US and the EU are exploring ways to improve food supply chains, following the export restrictions from India and other nations, Valdis Dombrovskis, European Union trade chief, told CNBC.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the risk of a global hunger crisis as the country is unable to export grains, fertilizers and vegetable oil, the G-7 foreign ministers said over the weekend. As a result, dependence on other nations for these products has increased. Russia and Ukraine are responsible for supplying almost a third of world wheat exports.

However, concerned about supplies for their own citizens, India on May 13 imposed restrictions on wheat exports “to manage the overall food security of the country.”

“That’s something which is very much of concern,” Dombrovskis told CNBC on Sunday about the new export measures.

Dombrovskis said export-restrictive measures are a tendency that “can only actually aggravate the problem”.

Apart from India’s wheat export restrictions, Europe is also feeling the pressure of a ban by Indonesia on palm oil exports.

These measures are driving up commodity prices, which were already on the rise since the beginning of the Ukraine war in February.

India’s wheat export ban stoked prices higher by about 6 percent a bushel (27.21 kg) on Monday, Indian Express reported.

Futures rose 5.9 percent to $12.47 a bushel in Chicago on Monday, which is the highest in two months. In the previous trading session prior to the export ban on May 13, the commodity had closed at $11.77 a bushel.