Could Turkey’s rejection of 56,877 tonnes of wheat from India due to the Rubella virus in the wheat really be political?
While Turkey says that the Rubella virus has been found in the wheat sending back the consignment of 56,877 tonnes headed now back to Kandala port in Gujarat from Turkey, many questions are arising in minds. Also, the recent development has caused anxiety among the Indian traders as at least 1.5 million tonnes of wheat are due to be exported.
According to reports, a Turkish trader said that the Rubella virus has been found in Indian wheat, due to which the country’s Agriculture Ministry has decided to return it. The ship will return to Gujarat by mid-June. However, there is no official word on this from the Indian side.
Turkey returned 56,877 tonnes of Indian wheat consignment as Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry says that rubella virus has been detected in wheat. This wheat consignment was sent to Turkey by India on May 13 before the ban on wheat exports.
An official of ITC LTD told ‘The Hindu Business Line’ on the condition of anonymity, ‘ITC sold wheat on free on board (weight and quality) basis to a Dutch firm who then sold it to a Turkish company. Both ITC and the Dutch firm have received the money for the wheat consignment. It seems to be motivated by a political decision. It is being said in media reports that some human disease was found in wheat but that disease is not found in crops. This could also be due to corporate rivalry in the importing countries
At a time when there is a worldwide uproar over wheat, Turkey has returned a massive consignment of Indian wheat saying that the Rubella virus has been found in Indian wheat. Official sources have said that Turkey has done this due to political reasons or because of ‘corporate competition’ among the importing countries of Indian wheat.
According to official sources, the wheat consignment sent to Turkey was not exported directly from India and was sold by Indian company ITC Limited to a Netherlands-based company.
Earlier, another official said on the condition of anonymity, ‘The central government has been informed about the return of the wheat consignment. We learn that the consignment belongs to ITC Group, which has not been sold directly to Turkey. The consignment was sold on the basis of weight and quality checks to a buyer based in the Netherlands.
At the same time, when the ITC officer was asked whether the consignment of wheat is coming back to India, he replied that now it depends on the buyer of the Netherlands where he will sell the wheat. The official said that when this wheat consignment was sold to a Netherlands-based company, India did not impose a ban on wheat exports, but now after India’s export ban, wheat prices have increased. If the prices have increased, then the company will sell it to whomever it wants.
India had suspended the wheat export
Turkey had placed orders for 50,000 tonnes of wheat imports from India as Egypt did. The massive consignment was expected to benefit the farmers, and would further push up wheat prices in India which have already risen up by 15% in the recent weeks. The consignments for Turkey were finalized before India imposed a ban on private wheat exports.
India had suspended the wheat export after forecasting that the wheat output will fall 3 percent to 106 million tonnes because of the summer, against a previous forecast of 111.32 tonnes made in February 2022.
Wheat prices shot up as Indian wheat is in demand in the global markets after exports from Ukraine came to a halt because of the Russian-Ukraine war. While India is not a major exporter of wheat, several countries have been counting on India for wheat. Reportedly, exporters shipped a record 7 million tonnes in the year ending March 2022.
A trade analyst says that Turkey has been isolated from India since the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. Turkey had also opposed India for the abolition of the special status of Kashmir. He said that Rubella is a disease caused by humans and how can it suddenly appear in crops. The analyst expressed doubts that Turkey’s decision to return the wheat could also be political in view of this.
However, an exporter said that some anti-microbial elements may have been found in the consignment and this could be a bit worrying. They say that there is a severe shortage of wheat in Turkey and it cannot return wheat to India only for political reasons.
One cannot be sure what triggered Turkey to return the wheat apart from Rubella. Relations between India and Turkey have weakened since the abrogation of Article 370 but when there is a severe wheat crisis in Turkey for wheat, and basically, sources say Rubella virus does not thrive in wheat, and there is silence from the Indian side, a lot of questions are rising.
Rubella virus can spread through direct contact with the saliva or mucus of an infected person or through the air by respiratory droplets produced from coughing or sneezing. Symptoms often appear two to three weeks after exposure and also include mild fever and headache. There’s no treatment to get rid of established infection, but medications may help with symptoms. Vaccination can help prevent the disease. Question is, can wheat get Rubella?