iGrain India - Hyderabad. Official data shows that maize exports from India increased to 34.53 lakh tonnes during the financial year 2022-23, which declined by 58 percent to 14.42 lakh tonnes in 2023-24. This is the lowest export level of last year.
According to industry and trade analysts, maize exports were affected to a great extent due to high domestic market prices and decrease in production as well as increased demand for poultry feed, animal feed, starch manufacturing and ethanol production.
Due to high prices and low stock, major importing countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam reduced maize imports from India and tried to import it at cheaper prices from other exporting countries.
During the period under review, the earnings from the export of maize also declined by 60 percent from $ 111.60 crore to $ 44.30 crore, while in Indian currency this earnings declined by 59.30 percent from Rs 8987 crore to Rs 3660 crore.
During the financial year 2023-24, Vietnam was the biggest buyer of Indian maize which imported 6.88 lakh tonnes but this quantity was about 23 percent less than the import of 8.91 lakh tonnes in 2022-23.
After this, Nepal imported about 3.78 lakh tonnes of maize which was 3.3 percent less than the import of 3.91 lakh tonnes in 2022-23.
Maize exports in Bangladesh declined by 88 percent from 17.09 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 to 2.08 lakh tonnes in 2023-24.
It is worth noting that Bangladesh has been the largest buyer of Indian maize in recent years. Indian maize is not very competitive in the global export market. Maize production is also estimated to decline from 380.85 lakh tonnes to 324.70 lakh tonnes.