Villagers wade through a flooded area of Bakula Guri village in Nagaon district of India's northeastern state of Assam, May 15, 2022.Photo:Xinhua

Wheat prices surged to a new record high in European trading on Monday after India decided to ban exports of the commodity as a heat wave hit production.

The price jumped to 438.25 euros ($456.68) per ton as the Euronext market closed, breaking the previous closing record of 422.4 struck on March 7, according to trader Damien Vercambre at grains brokerage Inter-Courtage. 

It had earlier set a record opening price of 435 euros.

On the Chicago Board of Trade, wheat was trading nearly 6 percent higher in midday trading at $12.48 per bushel.

India, the world's second-largest wheat producer, said on Saturday that it was banning exports after its hottest March on record, with traders needing express government approval to enter into new deals.

New Delhi said the move was needed to protect the food security of its own 1.4 billion people in the face of lower production and sharply higher global prices.

Some parts of India have seen prices in wheat and flour jump 20 to 40 percent in recent weeks, Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam said Sunday.

Because of the sharp rise in global prices, some farmers were selling to traders and not to the government.

This got the government worried about its buffer stock of almost 20 million tons needed for handouts to millions of poor families and to avert any possible famine.

The export ban drew sharp criticism from the Group of Seven nations, which said that such measures "would worsen the crisis" of rising commodity prices.

Export deals agreed before the directive issued on Friday could still be honored but future shipments needed government approval, it said.

However, exports could also take place if New Delhi approved requests from other governments "to meet their food security needs."

AFP