India: Wheat prices surge to record high

According to Reuters, in India wheat prices surged to a record high on Monday. Due to dwindling supplies, flour mills are struggling to secure the grain to operate at full capacity.

The record prices are likely to lift retail inflation, which eased in November last year after surging to a 14-month high in October, and could influence the central bank's decision on interest rate cuts.

"Wheat supplies are limited in the market. Even after paying record prices, flour mills are unable to secure enough to operate at full capacity," said Ajay Goyal, managing director of Shivaji Roller Flour Mills.

In December 2024, New Delhi lowered the limit on wheat stocks that traders and millers can hold to help boost the grain's availability and moderate prices.

But the curbs failed to bring down prices, which were trading around 33,000 rupees (US$384.66) per metric ton in New Delhi, up from 24,500 rupees in April and far above the government fixed minimum support price of 22,750 rupees for last season's crop.

The stock limit failed to improve supplies and bring down prices, indicating that private players are holding few supplies, and the government needs to sell more wheat from its reserves to bulk consumers, said Pramod Kumar, a flour miller.

The state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) is selling 100,000 metric tons of wheat to bulk consumers every week, but this is not sufficient to meet demand, as private players' sales are falling, Kumar said.

In November, the government announced plans to sell 2.5 million tons of wheat from state reserves to bulk consumers in the year ending March 2025. This is significantly lower than the nearly 10 million tons sold in the previous season.

The surplus wheat with the FCI is limited, preventing it from offering more to private players, said a New Delhi-based dealer with a global trade house.

Wheat stocks in state warehouses totaled 20.6 million tons at the start of December, slightly higher than the previous year's 19.2 million tons, but far below five-year average of 29.5 million

Oil tanker capsizes off Oman coast

According to Saudi Gazette, the search operation is under way to locate 16 missing crew members, 13 of whom are Indian, after an oil tanker capsized off the coast of Oman. Three of the missing crew members are Sri Lankan.

An Indian official told the BBC that the foreign ministry was coordinating the operation with Oman's maritime authorities.

Oman officials said late on Monday that the oil tanker ‑ Prestige Falcon ‑ had capsized 25 nautical miles southeast of its Ras Madrakah peninsula.

The Comoros-flagged vessel was on its way to the port of Aden in Yemen when it capsized.

Officials from Oman's Maritime Security Centre told Reuters news agency on Tuesday that the vessel remained "submerged, inverted" but didn't confirm if it had stabilized.

Oman's defense ministry, which runs the center, did not respond to the BBC's questions about whether the contents of the tanker had spilled into the sea.

The 117.4 meter long tanker was built in 2007, according to marinetraffic.com. The area the ship capsized in falls in the province of Duqm in Oman, where the country has a massive industrial port.

Indians form a majority of the global maritime workforce and they are often the victims of accidents or piracy.

Seventeen Indian crew members of the MSC Aries, a commercial ship with links to Israel, were stuck when Iranian troops seized the vessel in April. They were released after negotiations between India and Iran.

In 2022, 16 Indian crew members of a ship were held in the custody of Equatorial Guinea's navy for nine months.

Quad holds first virtual summit

Member countries of the Quadrilateral Framework (Quad) held a virtual summit on Friday. Addressing the meeting, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Premier Yoshihide Suga and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison highlighted cooperation among the member countries to beat the global COVID-19 pandemic, with joint partnership on vaccines, and emphasized the need for an open and free Indo-Pacific region. 

“We are united by our democratic values and our commitment to a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. Our agenda, covering areas like vaccines, climate change, and emerging technologies make the Quad a force for global good. We will work together, closer than ever before on advancing our shared values and promoting a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” said Modi, who described the Quadrilateral Framework as an “important pillar of stability in the region.”

The member nations agreed to ensure equitable access to vaccines to counter the pandemic. A joint statement, titled ‘The Spirit of the Quad’ said, “We will join forces to expand safe, affordable, and effective vaccine production and equitable access to speed economic recovery and benefit global health.”

Addressing the meeting, President Biden emphasized that the Indo-Pacific region should be governed in accordance to human rights.

 “And we're renewing our commitment to ensure that our region is governed by international law, committed to upholding universal values and free from coercion. We’ve got a big agenda ahead of us,” said Biden.

Addressing the gathering, Morrison laid out the agenda of the Quad in the near future and said, “We join together as leaders of nations to welcome, what I think will be a new dawn in the Indo-Pacific through our gathering.”

Prime Minister Suga acknowledged the new dynamism that Quad has received because of the meeting of the top leaders of the member countries.

 “With the four countries working together, I wish to firmly advance our cooperation to realise, a free and open Indo Pacific, and to make a tangible contribution to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the region, including overcoming COVID-19,” he said.

The ‘Quad’, has been taken to the apex level, said Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla during a special briefing on the leaders’ summit.

“We are all committed to free and open, inclusive, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Today’s summit adopted a positive vision to address contemporary issues with vaccine cooperation. Leaders agreed to strengthen, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Shringla, who described the focus on the vaccines as the “most pressing”.

He informed that Japan, US and Australia will finance the vaccine initiative that India has welcomed.

“We look forward to participating in the initiative whole-heartedly. During the discussion there was wholesome appreciation of the Vaccine Maitri initiative,” said Shringla.

The vaccine expert working group, a critical and emerging technology working group, and a climate working group for technology, capacity building and climate finance have been cleared during the summit. The Foreign Secretary also said the Quad leaders have agreed to meet in person during the coming months.

“The Quad does not stand against anything, it stands for something,” said Shringla, explaining that Quad is a value-based grouping that is trying to deal with the need for vaccines, climate change and other such issues. He informed that the issue of military takeover in Myanmar came up during the discussion among the leaders.