New Delhi: The Central Government has made major changes in the export rules of many products made from wheat. According to the notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Monday, wheat or meslin flour, maida, semolina, wholemeal flour and mixed wheat flour have now been removed from the restricted category to the free category. This means that there will be no more restrictions on the export of these products as before.
The government had imposed restrictions on the export of wheat and related products in the year 2022 to ensure domestic food security and control rising wheat prices.
There was a ban on wheat export in 2022
On May 13, 2022, the government had changed the export policy of wheat from free category to restricted category. After this, in August of the same year, a ban on export of wheat flour was also implemented.
This decision was taken amid the global wheat supply being affected following the Russia-Ukraine conflict. At that time, with increasing foreign demand for Indian wheat, pressure on prices in the domestic market was also increasing.
The government had then said that export restrictions were necessary to ensure food security of the country's approximately 1.4 billion population and to control rising prices of wheat and wheat flour.
Export of which products is now free?
Under the revised policy the following products have been kept in the exempted category:
- wheat or meslin flour
- Fine flour
- Semolina
- wholemeal flour
- mixed wheat flour
However, even during the restrictions, export of certain wheat products was allowed.
The government had given permission for export in February also
In February this year, the government had allowed export of 25 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat and an additional 5 lakh metric tonnes of wheat products, citing better stock availability.
Now the decision to put major products made from wheat in the free export category has come amid improvement in domestic production and availability.
Food grain production reached record level
According to data released in May, India's total food grain production is estimated to increase by 5.3 percent to a record 376.563 million tonnes in 2025-26. In 2024-25 this figure was 35.7732 crore tonnes.
According to crop-wise data, rice production in 2025-26 is estimated to be 15.4024 crore tonnes, which is 38.4 lakh tonnes more than last year's 15.0184 crore tonnes.
At the same time, wheat production is estimated to be 12.0657 crore tonnes. This is 27.12 lakh tonnes more than 11.7945 crore tonnes in 2024-25.
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