Private traders dejected, mill owners happy over ban on wheat export

Bathinda, May 14

The Centre’s decision to ban the wheat export has come as a big jolt to private traders, who were expecting a good season this year due to a high global demand for the grain amid the Ukraine-Russia war.

Move Anti-farmer

This is an anti-farmer decision. Farmers were getting prices higher than the MSP. Traders, too, will be hit as they were hoping for a good business. Davinder, Fazilka arhtiya

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It is a good step. Due to a high demand for export, we were not getting wheat in the market. The government also faced problems in procuring wheat at MSP. Shobhit Arora, flour mill owner

Bathinda-based private trader Ankush Aggarwal said: “Expecting a good business this year, traders had purchased wheat for export. But the decision to ban wheat export has disappointed traders and farmers as well who were getting more than the MSP. The ban will cool down the wheat prices that had soared past the MSP in the recent time.”

Davinder, a commission agent from Fazilka, said: “This is an anti-farmer decision. Farmers were getting prices higher than the MSP. But now the prices as well as farmers’ income will decline. Traders, too, will be hit as they were hoping for good business”.

On the contrary, the decision has come as a relief for the flour mill owners and other related sectors as they were facing a problem in procuring wheat for their units at reasonable prices. Shobhit Arora of Nawashaher, owner of A-Plus flour brand, said: “It is a good step. Due to a high export demand, we were not getting wheat in the market. The government was also facing a problem in procuring wheat at MSP as people had started hoarding it.