India's wheat export ban Rising wheat prices likely to increase domestic food prices

Concerns about long-term impact rather than immediate damage due to low import volume and inventory

A restaurant in downtown Seoul

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(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Shinseon-mi = As India, the world’s second-largest wheat producer, bans wheat exports for reasons of food security, the burden on domestic food prices is expected to increase.

In the case of Korea, there is not much wheat imported directly from India, so the immediate immediate damage is not expected to be large.

According to the food industry and the Agricultural Cooperative Economic Research Institute of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation on the 14th, domestic companies mainly import wheat for feed from Russia and Ukraine, and wheat for food from the United States, Australia and Canada.

According to the statistics of the Korea Flour Mill Association, domestic wheat imports totaled 2182,000 tons (tons) as of 2020, and by country, 1115,000 tons (51.1%) in the United States, 949,000 tons (43.5%) in Australia, and 949,000 tons (43.5%) in Canada 117,000 tons (5.4%) were imported from

Imports from other countries amounted to only 1,000 tons.

As a result, the quantity imported from India into Korea is not large.

However, India’s export ban has raised international grain prices overall, raising concerns about adverse effects in Korea.

Already, world grain prices are on a steep rise.

In the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced that the world grain price index for March reached a record high of 170.1 points.

Wheat futures prices rose 73.9% in March compared to the same period last year. As a result, the unit price of domestic wheat imports also increased by 47.2% compared to the same period of the previous year.

Since Korea relies on imports for most of its grains, prices of processed foods and restaurants are also affected by changes in global grain prices.

Wheat prices are likely to rise further as a result of India’s wheat export ban.

A food industry official said, “Considering the country from which wheat is imported and the amount of domestic stock, there will be no immediate impact, but there are concerns about the impact in the long run.”

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, domestic grain-related industries such as milling and feed have stocks that can be used from July to September, and are currently securing additional supplies.