Wheat: Because of this, Egypt also stopped the ‘entry’ of Indian wheat, Turkey has already created a ‘squabble’
Egypt also stopped ‘entry’ of Indian wheat going to Turkey
Egypt has also refused entry to the Indian ship carrying 55,000 tonnes of wheat into its country. Egypt’s Plant Quarantine Chief Ahmed Al Attar said on Saturday that the consignment of wheat was originally being sent to Turkey. Attar told Reuters: ‘We refused to let the ship through before entering Egypt.’ According to him, the Turkish Quarantine Officers had already stopped the ship from arriving. However, India maintains that the exporter had already taken all the clearances and so far no formal communication has taken place with Turkey in this regard.
Egypt is the world’s largest wheat importer
Egypt is the world’s largest wheat importer; And the first consignment of wheat that the private sector has imported from India was about to reach there on Saturday itself. Make it clear here that the Indian wheat which Egypt did not allow to enter, was going to Turkey only. Egypt’s Supply Minister Eli Moselhi said in May that an agreement with India to directly buy 500,000 tonnes of wheat outside the normal tender system had been agreed but was yet to be signed. The Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture announced in April itself that it had approved India as a wheat exporting country. This agreement was made in view of the bottlenecks in the supply of wheat due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
‘Wheat sent to Turkey got clearance’
Earlier, the Indian government had confirmed that shipments awaiting customs clearance to be exported to Egypt would still be allowed. Moselhi had also said earlier that the ban imposed by India on wheat exports will not apply to the government agreement with Egypt. Earlier, about the consignment of Indian wheat which Turkey had refused to accept on the basis of quality, India’s Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said on Thursday that details have been sought from the Turkish government in this regard. Because, ITC Limited, the exporter concerned in this matter, claims that the shipment of 60,000 tonnes has already got the necessary clearance.
‘No formal communication with Turkey yet’
ITC, a major exporter, has told the government that it had sold wheat to a Geneva-based company and further sold it to a Turkish company. According to Sudhanshu Pandey, all kinds of financial transactions were done. “All kinds of local clearance is a must before payment. Quarantine happened in India too. This is what the company told us… their financial transactions, even with the Turkish importer, were completed. He said that the Department of Agriculture and APEDA, the agricultural export body, are in touch with the Turkish quarantine authorities in this regard. ‘Nothing has been said to them from their side. No formal communication has taken place so far.
Also read: If the war in Ukraine does not end, the global food crisis will deepen!
India has put a ban on wheat export
India had on May 13 banned wheat exports to control its prices amid a slight fall in the estimated domestic yield of wheat. However, exports of consignments that were already registered were not banned. By the way, this ban is also being opposed in many states of India and some organizations are calling it harmful for the farmers. (pictures – symbolic)
