KATHMANDU, Aug 25: India lifts ban on export of its wheat and related products that has been in place for the past four years.
Issuing a public notice on Monday, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade of the Government of India lifted the export ban on wheat and wheat products with immediate effect, aiming to boost farmers’ income amid the depressed domestic prices, according to The Hindu, an Indian media.
The revised export policy has now permitted Indian traders to export wheat, wheat flour and related products including maida, semolina, wholewheat atta and resultant atta. Earlier on July 12, 2022, the Indian authority halted wheat exports, while it was opened up only partially in the beginning of 2026 by setting up the upper limit at 5 million tons per annum.
India lifts ban on wheat export to Nepal
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, Indian authorities restricted the export of the essential edible to protect its domestic market from excessive price hike. Due to this reason, the wheat price had skyrocketed in the global market.
India is reported to have produced a record 120.65 million tons of wheat in FY 2025/26. Previous to the export ban, India exported a record 7.85 million tons of wheat in FY 2021/22.
Taking a flexible measure to Nepal, the Indian government lifted the ban on wheat export to its northern neighbor after five months in December 2022. However, India had permitted Nepal to import only up to 50,000 tons of wheat per annum, while the quantity was raised to 200,000 tons for Nepal in January 2025.
With the restriction from India, prices of wheat and related products had soared by up to 40 percent in Nepali market. Due to India’s quota restriction over the past one year, the price is still up by around seven percent in the domestic market compared to the normal time, according to traders.
As per the government records, there are forty-two flour mills operating in the country. The flour mills require 800,000 to 900,000 tons of wheat and around 1.2 million tons go to manufacturers of biscuits and noodles, including animal feed.
The records of the Food and Agriculture Organization show that Nepal produces around 2.1 million metric tons of wheat annually. The country imports about 30 percent of industrially used wheat.
