India’s corn purchases are set to climb to a record 1 million tonnes in the year starting in November as the country’s growing affluence is seeing its population turn more carnivorous, leading the country with the world’s highest number of vegetarians to import more corn for chicken feed than ever before, says a report.
In fact, India’s growing population, rising disposable incomes and changing food habits are boosting the consumption of non-vegetarian food, according to CLFMA, an association of Indian feed manufacturers. Chicken demand is likely to rise by about 5 per cent on the year to 5.1 million tonnes this year, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The other reason for the increased imports is India’s own corn production, which may disappoint after several producing states received scant rains last year. The output is estimated at between 18 million tonnes and 19 million tonnes in 2018-19, compared with demand of as much as 20 million tonnes, CLFMA said. That’s much below the government’s own production estimate of 27.8 million tonnes.
That also means that India, which was a net exporter until last year, is likely to sell just 500,000 tonnes this season, less than half of the 1.1 million tonnes it exported in 2017-18, the USDA said, as per the report.
