India has increased its imports of Russian grain and grain products by 22 times in the 2023/24 agricultural season, far exceeding other major importers, according to data released during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow.
Economic cooperation between the two BRICS members and major agricultural powers is high on the agenda of the visit.
Modi thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for the stable supply of fertilisers to Indian farmers. At the beginning of the year, Russia was supplying a third of India’s fertiliser imports.
“Thanks to our friendship, we were able to overcome the difficulties of Indian farmers. We fulfilled all their fertilizer needs. This is the special role of our friendship,” Prime Minister Modi said during his meeting with Putin in the Kremlin.
Russia and India have set a “broad-based” bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2030, up from the current $65 billion, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said on Tuesday.
Data released by the Russian agricultural watchdog showed that Russia exported 89.3 million tonnes of grain and grain products in the 2023/24 agricultural season, up 21% compared to the previous season.
India is far ahead of Indonesia with a 22-fold increase, followed by Tunisia with an eight-fold increase and Tunisia with a three-fold increase. According to data from the Russian Agriculture Ministry, Russia was the fourth largest exporter of agricultural products to India in the first quarter of 2024.
The agriculture regulator did not give specific details of exports to India but said total barley exports rose 67% and maize 31% in the latest agricultural season.
Russia currently does not export wheat to India, which has imposed a prohibitive tax of 40% on wheat imports. However, wheat prices in India, the world’s second-largest grain producer, have been rising in recent weeks due to concerns about supply.
In the wake of these concerns, there is speculation that the Indian government may eliminate or reduce current import taxes to keep prices low, possibly opening the way for wheat from Russia, the world’s leading wheat exporter, to enter the local market for the first time in six years.
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