NEW DELHI: India has seen its exports of livestock products rise by more than 60 per cent over the last three years and now these products are playing an increasingly important role in the socio-economic life of the country.
The country has developed a rich source of diverse animal products including milk, meat and eggs.
And it has become the largest producer of milk in the world with a 16.43 per cent share of total global milk production.
India also accounts for 4.95 per cent of the world’s egg production and it has the largest population of milking/meat producing animals in the world with 112.9 million buffalo, 157 million goats and 74.5 million sheep.
Such a large resource for meat, dairy and egg production has meant that India has not only been supplying its domestic market and its growing population – now nearly 1.276 billion people – but also a burgeoning export market.
Although the main destinations for India’s livestock products are the South East Asian countries as well as Africa and the Middle East, it is also starting to make inroads into the more developed markets of the western world.
In 2014-2015, Indian exports of animal products was worth Rs331.283 billion ($5.08 billion), with the largest part being exports of buffalo meat worth Rs 292.826 billion ($4.5 billion).
Sheep and goat meat exports in the same year were Rs8.281 billion ($127 million) poultry products were Rs6.512 billion ($99.8 million) dairy products Rs 12.054 billion ($185 million), processed meat products Rs142.1 million ($2.2 million) and other meat products Rs 26.7 million ($409,478).
