Five countries, including Ukraine, challenge India’s wheat support program in the WTO

The United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada and Ukraine have filed a counter-notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding India’s domestic support, raw material subsidies and market support for wheat and rice prices, World Grain reports.

In accordance with its WTO commitments, India can provide subsidies of no more than 10% of the total value of crop production. In MY 2021/22 and 2022/23, which are considered in the counter-notification, the US and other countries demonstrate with the help of India’s own data that its level of support is much higher than this limit.

India’s wheat support schemes encourage overproduction and discourage farmers from growing other crops, the countries said. This has led to huge public stocks of wheat, which the Indian government has at times “dumped” on international markets. The disruption this causes hurts farmers in exporting countries and their customers, the newspaper writes.

“The Indian government continues to violate its commitments, and its refusal to compromise on support levels and public stocks is blocking any progress in the WTO agricultural negotiations. It is important to continue to highlight this issue with the hope that it will eventually force India to become a responsible trading partner,” said Vince Peterson, President of US Wheat Associates.

This is the third counter-notification that the United States has filed against India’s subsidies on rice and wheat. The first one was in 2018 and the second one in 2023.

The 2018 counter-notification was filed by the United States alone, while the 2023 counter-notification was supported by Australia, Canada, Paraguay, Thailand, and Ukraine.

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Tags: subsidies, wheat, India