Dubai: «The Gulf»
Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, confirmed that the UAE is moving quickly to find alternative markets to ensure the availability of imports of basic commodities and food, revealing that India excludes the UAE from banning its exports of wheat.
In televised interviews in Davos, he indicated that communication is being conducted with a group of markets to ensure the continuity and smooth supply of food commodities during the coming period.
On the other hand, the minister said that there is a focus on entering new markets for UAE trade, especially iron, aluminum and petrochemical exports.
Regarding the comprehensive partnership agreements that started with India, it is expected that comprehensive partnership agreements will be signed with Israel, Colombia and Indonesia soon.
During the World Economic Forum, Al Zeyoudi met with India’s Minister of Commerce, Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food, General Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal, where they discussed the incentives provided by the historic Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement for business, which is the first comprehensive economic partnership agreement concluded by the UAE in a series of agreements, and will stimulate Bilateral trade between the UAE and India has reached $100 billion annually within 5 years.
India’s decision
On the other hand, the Indian Minister of Commerce indicated that India has never been a major supplier of grain in the world, although India is the second wheat-producing country in the world with a total production of 110 million tons last year, but most of its production is for domestic consumption. In statements during his participation in Davos, the minister indicated that the country did not export wheat at all until two years ago, when there was a modest surplus and we exported two million tons, and last year we witnessed a sudden rise in Indian exports with a total of 7 million tons from April 2021 to March 2022.
He pointed out that the increase was mainly concentrated in the period between January and March 2022 due to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, explaining that wheat exports doubled in April (2022) six times than they were in April 2021 (from 240 thousand tons to 1.4 million tons). He added that the estimates indicated the possibility of exporting 10 million tons, and therefore we pledged to help compensate for the shortage in the world markets of wheat, but unfortunately India witnessed a heat wave that reduced the volume of production, and it was necessary to re-estimate the production downward. He stressed that attention to our national food security prompted the country to announce this week that it will limit its exports of sugar as well, in order to protect our stocks and reduce inflation.