New Delhi, March 19 -- The West Asia war is complicating India's re-entry into global wheat markets, but it is also redrawing trade routes in favour of its eastern heartland. As sea-bound shipments turn costlier and more uncertain, exporters are pivoting to nearby land-border markets such as Nepal and Bangladesh-leveraging faster, more reliable road and rail routes in a shift that could support better price realization for farmers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, three people directly involved in the process told Mint.

This comes in the backdrop of the decision of India, world's second-largest wheat producer after China, to reopen exports of the staple food grain after nearly four years of curbs, with the rabi harvest underway. The country's ...