“Thanks to our friendship, we were able to resolve the difficulties of Indian farmers,” PM Modi told Putin
Moscow:
India increased its imports of Russian cereals and grain products 22 times, well above other major importers, in the 2023/24 agricultural season, according to data released during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow.
Economic cooperation between the two BRICS members and the main agricultural powers is at the top of the visit’s agenda.
Modi thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for supporting Indian farmers with stable fertilizer supplies. At the beginning of the year, Russia supplied a third of India’s fertilizer imports.
“Thanks to our friendship, we have been able to resolve the difficulties of Indian farmers. We have met all their fertilizer needs. This is a special role of our friendship,” Prime Minister Modi told Putin during a meeting in the Kremlin.
Russia and India have set a bilateral trade target of $100 billion on a “broad basis” 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 up to 89.3 million tons of grain and grain products in the 2023/24 agricultural season, 21% more than in the previous season.
India, with its 22-fold increase, was well ahead of Indonesia, with an eight-fold increase, and Tunisia, with a three-fold increase. According to data from the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, Russia was the fourth largest exporter of agricultural products to India in the first quarter of 2024.
The agricultural watchdog did not provide specific details of exports to India, but noted that in the last agricultural season, global barley exports increased by 67% and maize by 31%.
Russia does not currently export wheat to India, which has imposed a prohibitive 40% tax on wheat imports. However, wheat prices in India, the world’s second-largest producer of the grain, have been rising in recent weeks due to supply concerns.
In light of these concerns, there is speculation that the Indian government may abolish or reduce the current import tax to keep prices low, potentially paving 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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