Bangladesh Seeks India's Help to Ensure 'Predictable Supply' of Wheat Amid Global Shortfall

India, the world’s second-biggest producer of wheat, exported almost half of its supplies to Bangladesh last year. New Delhi has been forced to impose restrictions on its wheat exports after unprecedented heat condition in March affected the wheat crop, a development that came amid global shortfall in the wheat supply amid the Ukraine crisis.

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to ensure a “predictable supply” of wheat and other food items — rice, sugar, onion, ginger and garlic, as per a joint statement released by the Indian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

"The Indian side conveyed that Bangladesh’s requests will be favourably considered based on prevalent supply conditions in India, and all efforts will be made in this regard," said the statement, released a day after Hasina held one-on-one as well as delegation-level talks with Modi in New Delhi. Hasina is on a four-day visit to India until September 8.

Briefing journalists after the meeting between the two leaders on Tuesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra underlined that New Delhi has this year already supplied around 400,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh.

Kwatra also said that a formal decision to continue exporting wheat to India’s eastern neighbour would be taken taking into account the “supply situation in India and the needs of Bangladesh”.

Although New Delhi announced restrictions on its wheat imports in May for the sake of national "food security" amid a "sudden spike in global prices", New Delhi has continued to export wheat to its neighbouring countries and “other vulnerable developing countries”, as per the government.

Bangladesh is among more than 55 countries across the globe which have experienced disruptions in wheat imports in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine in February.

Russia and Ukraine were the biggest suppliers of wheat to Bangladesh before the Ukraine crisis.

Among them, the two Slavic nations accounted for almost 30 per cent of the global wheat exports, with the conflict resulting in a shortfall estimated to be 60 million tonnes.

The disruption in the global wheat supply led to prices reaching a 14-year-high, with people in poorer nations such as Bangladesh facing the brunt of volatile market prices.

The Turkey-mediated deal between Russia and Ukraine to resume wheat exports through the Black Sea ports faced criticism from President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

The Russian leader said at the ongoing Eastern Economic Forum on Wednesday that most of the wheat transported from Ukrainian ports, since the exports resumed, has gone to Europe rather than the developing nations.