India ships 1.8 million tonnes of wheat to nations battling food crisis

India has exported 1.8 million tonnes of wheat on the request of foreign governments since putting a ban on overseas sales of the staple on 13 May, a senior government official said.

More than a dozen countries have requested Indian wheat shipments as a global food crisis triggered by the Ukraine war crimped availability, pushing up prices.

"Outbound shipments have gone to Bangladesh, Oman, the UAE and Afghanistan among others with an undertaking by their governments that Indian wheat should be used for their own consumption and not trade or exports," said Sudhanshu Pandey, Union food secretary.

Last month, food minister Piyush Goyal said though India was not a major exporter of wheat, it would supply to "friendly countries facing a food crisis".

India banned the private export of wheat on 13 May after a scorching early summer impacted yields and cut output estimates by nearly 5%. The ban exempted wheat exports cleared for countries making a formal request for shipments to overcome acute shortages.

The G7 grouping of countries had criticised India for banning overseas sales of wheat saying it would "exacerbate" a global crisis, but the Union government said it was prompted to bar export to mitigate likely risks to the country's food security. "The nation's interest comes first and we have only regulated exports," the food secretary said at the time.

The Union government and the UN World Food Programme this week signed an agreement to supply 10,000 additional tonnes to Afghanistan bringing total shipments to 50,000 tonnes. In Afghanistan, nearly 19 million people or half the population faces an acute food crisis, the WEP said in a statement earlier this week.

India has also shipped nearly 0.1 million tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh since the ban on exports came in force. Indonesia too has imported similar volumes after the export ban. Export requests from foreign countries are being vetted by the ministry of external affairs, said an official, requesting anonymity.