WFP taps India for 200,000 tonnes of rice as global hunger worsens

The World Food Programme has sought 200,000 tonnes of rice for its humanitarian operations from India, the largest exporter of the commodity, amid what it called “catastrophic levels” of global food insecurity triggered by the covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war, two people aware of the development said.

The request comes after the UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal, crucial for the global supply, collapsed last month as Russia withdrew stating the deal no longer justified its humanitarian purpose. Global food prices surged further after India restricted rice exports following Russia’s move.

The UN’s request is currently a subject of internal review involving the department of commerce, ministry of external affairs, department of revenue, department of food and public distribution and the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

“The decision will be made strictly on the basis of availability of the commodity and keeping the country’s food security in mind. We have agreed at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that we will not impose any export restriction on the WFP. We have come up with rice export restrictions but they will be set aside when it comes to the request made by WFP,” the official said.

Meanwhile, WFP has formally sought the country-of-origin certificate, commercial invoice, sanitary and phytosanitary certificate along with crop year certification to process the assistance.

In India, food inflation as measured by the Consumer Food Price Index, which accounts for nearly half of the overall consumer price basket, rose to 4.49% in June 2023 against 2.96% (revised) in May 2023. While Morgan Stanley says it expects headline inflation to track higher than their previous expectation, the underlying trend in inflation remains unchanged, as reflected in core inflation forecasts.

The official cited above said global food prices are high and availability is a major concern with grain movement restricted from Russia and Ukraine.