The Indian diaspora living in the USA are missing the rotis back at home, because despite the availability of all the facilities and cuisines from all across the globe, they are unable to savour any taste without hot rotis or Indian bread. This situation has arisen because of a shortage of wheat flour in the USA, and hence, Indian Americans are disgruntled. The Americans are unbothered with this crisis because they prefer consuming refined flour or maida.
In the USA, for the last 10 days, many shops with Indian goods have hung boards saying ‘No flour’ outside them. A rationing-like situation has also emerged wherein shopkeepers are giving customers only one flour packet at a time. There are a number of shopkeepers who are selling flour at a price three times higher. In the wake of this situation persisting, only those people are buying flour who are unable to survive without rotis.
This year, during the April-July quarter, the export of flour from India to the USA had doubled, which led to a price-rise in India as well, and in order to curb the rising prices, the Modi government had imposed a ban on wheat export in May 2022, after which a ban was imposed on the export of flour as well. As a result, right before Diwali, a shortage of flour started in the USA, and this shortage has been rampant for the last 7 weeks in a row now.
This shortage of flour is expected to come to an end starting from the second week of December.
