NEW DELHI(Reuters/Bloomberg): Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that the economic cooperation between the two countries has grown very significantly.
Jaishankar met Putin during his visit to Moscow for a meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation.
Meanwhile, also in the news was that India, one of the world's biggest wheat producers, has scrapped a years-long ban on exports of the grain, a move that could ease global supplies that are under strain from escalating attacks between Russia and Ukraine.
The government has permitted wheat exports with immediate effect, according to notifications issued on Monday by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. The change includes the durum variety, as well as flour and other products, and builds on a decision by the government in February to allow limited shipments of the grain.
Wheat exports from the country have been largely prohibited since 2022 - the year Russia's invasion of Ukraine began. The two Black Sea nations rank among the world's top exporters, and the outbreak of the war sent global wheat prices spiraling higher.
That briefly turned India, whose wheat prices typically aren't competitive at the global level, into a major supplier. However, the government banned overseas sales shortly thereafter, citing food-security concerns as a heat wave threatened its domestic harvest.
Supplies have improved in the years since, with India's last wheat harvest reaching an all-time high of 120.6 million tons. The US Department of Agriculture is forecasting India's domestic stockpiles to end the 2026-27 season at a record level, signaling a surplus is available.
A pickup in wheat shipments from India could help ease supply pressures in import-dependent countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East at a time when Black Sea grain flows are being disrupted anew. Ukraine and Russia have recently escalated attacks on commercial vessels and ports in the region, sending Chicago wheat futures to a two-year high.
Russia rejected a truce offered by Ukraine to end attacks on ships carrying agricultural commodities through the Black Sea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over the weekend.
Still, the shift comes as India emerges as an importer of some other agricultural commodities. The government last week allowed mills and refiners to bring in as much as 1 million tons of raw sugar duty-free to cool record domestic prices. -- Reuters/Bloomberg)
