Poor Crop Estimates Aggravate Food Shortages, India Resorts To Protectionism

After the hottest March on record, India looks at wheat export restrictions.

India Mulls Wheat Export Curbs

This article was originally published by Mish Talk.

Bloomberg reports India Mulls Wheat Export Curbs in Latest Food Supply Squeeze

The South Asian nation experienced its hottest March on record, shriveling the wheat crop that the world was relying on to alleviate a global shortage. To safeguard domestic supplies, the government is considering limiting wheat exports, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Curbing exports would be a hit to India’s ambition to cash in on the rally in global wheat prices after Russia’s war in Ukraine upended trade flows out of the critical Black Sea breadbasket region. Importing nations have looked to India for supplies, with top buyer Egypt recently approving the South Asian nation as an origin for wheat imports.

The move would also add to a wave of crop protectionism around the world as governments seek to protect their own food supply amid soaring prices and fears of shortages.

Wheat Futures 

Corn Futures 

Soybean Futures 

Historic Fertilizer Crunch Threatens Food Security

Please note Historic Fertilizer Crunch Threatens Food Security

For the first time ever, farmers the world over — all at the same time — are testing the limits of how little chemical fertilizer they can apply without devastating their yields come harvest time. Early predictions are bleak.

In Brazil, the world’s biggest soybean producer, a 20% cut in potash use could bring a 14% drop in yields, according to industry consultancy MB Agro. In Costa Rica, a coffee cooperative representing 1,200 small producers sees output falling as much as 15% next year if the farmers miss even one-third of normal application. In West Africa, falling fertilizer use will shrink this year’s rice and corn harvest by a third, according to the International Fertilizer Development Center, a food security non-profit group.