“We urge countries not to restrict exports as we believe that any export restrictions will exacerbate food shortages,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield said during a video conference on the eve of ministerial meetings to be held at the headquarters of the International Organization for Food Security Research in NYC.

The US Ambassador noted that “India will be among the countries that will participate in our meeting at the UN Security Council, and we hope that by listening to the concerns of other countries, it will be able to reconsider the decision to ban the export of wheat.”

And on Saturday, India announced that it had banned exports of wheat as heatwaves slashed production, pushing the price of the staple food commodity to unprecedented levels.

India is the second wheat producing country in the world and has decided to ban the export of this commodity without special government permission in order to ensure the “food security” of its 1.4 billion people.

Thomas Greenfield said the purpose of the meeting is to determine “which countries can help bridge the shortfall” in the global wheat market caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world’s largest wheat exporter.

She stressed that “the US could be one of those countries and discussions are already underway with US farmers on this issue.”