Singapore restaurants are serving soft chewy chapatis because India’s ban on wheat exports since May has caused flour shortages. The cost has increased by nearly three times on imports of similar quality from other countries amidst the war in Ukraine.
Singapore imports between 200,000 and 250,000 tonnes of wheat and 100,000 to 120,000 tonnes of wheat flour annually, according to data from the United Nations. In 2020, 5.8 per cent of Singapore’s total wheat flour imports were from India.