Climate Denial Crock of the Week

Reminder: in 2010, following a once in 1000 year heat wave, Russia cut off wheat exports, while crops were hit, also by heat in Australia and Argentina. Prices soared, and in succeeding months, governments began to fall in the Middle East in a violent period that has been called the “Arab Spring”.
As always, climate is interacting with political and economic events unfolding elsewhere, like the fossil-fuel driven Ukraine war.

CNN:

India banned wheat exports on Saturday — days after saying it was targeting record shipments this year — as a scorching heat wavecurtailed output and domestic prices hit a record high.

The government said it would still allow exports backed by already issued letters of credit and to countries that request supplies “to meet their food security needs.”

The move to ban overseas shipments was not in perpetuity and could be revised, senior government officials told a press conference.

Global buyers were banking on supplies from the world’s second-biggest wheat producer after exports from the Black Sea region plunged following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Before the ban, India had aimed to ship a record 10 million tonnes this year. 

The officials added that there was no dramatic fall in wheat output this year, but unregulated exports had led to a rise in local prices.

“We don’t want wheat trade to happen in an unregulated manner or hoarding to happen,” commerce secretary BVR Subrahmanyam told reporters in New Delhi.

Hindustan Times:

Heatwave spell: Delhi has never before seen temperatures surging to 49 degrees.

Delhi saw a new record on Sunday with the mercury passing the 49 degrees-mark in Mungeshpur near the Haryana border while neighbouring Gururgam registered the day’s high at 48 degrees, also the highest since May 1966, according to news agency PTI. In the national capital, rain shortfall is believed to be one of the reasons behind the intense spell of heatwave. Many other parts of the country – including those in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh – continue to bear the brunt of the sizzling temperatures.