Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
Wheat market in India - statistics & facts
Wheat is one of the main staple crops and is important for the food economy in India. It is the most consumed crop after rice by the Indian population. When India gained independence in 1947, wheat output and productivity were extremely low. Therefore, India used to import a large quantity of wheat from different nations to meet the country’s demands. After the Green Revolution in the late sixties, wheat production in India became self-sufficient due to various government initiatives. Currently, the nation produces far more wheat than is needed, and warehouses overflow with grain. As a result, India is ranked third in global wheat production. The wheat crop is cultivated in the Rabi (winter) season and harvested in the spring or summer season. Moreover, there are about 448 varieties of wheat grown in India.
Wheat production
The northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana are the main wheat producers of India. About 107 million metric tons of wheat were produced in 2021 across the country. In 2022, about 31 million hectares of wheat were cultivated and over 31 million hectares of wheat were harvested in the country. Record-high prices and favorable weather conditions encouraged farmers to increase planting acreage and choose high-yielding varieties, leading to a record-high wheat production estimate in 2023.Wheat exports
India was one of the major exporters of wheat until May 2022, when the government decided to ban wheat export from the country. The decision was made due to damage to wheat crops by severe heatwaves and the ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict, which in turn led to inflation in wheat prices in the market. However, over two billion U.S. dollars' worth of wheat was exported from India to different countries in 2022. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates accounted for the largest share of wheat exports from the south Asian country that same year.Wheat consumption
Wheat is most consumed in north India in the form of “chapati”. Be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner, a meal in the north is incomplete without chapati. India was one of the leading consumers of wheat globally. The overall consumption of wheat was over 103 million metric tons in 2022. Most of the wheat processed in India is turned into whole wheat flour, which is then used in a variety of traditional goods. Some of the different products of wheat milling included all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, wheat bran, semolina, and wheat germ.
