Buffalo meat now India's top agri export item

In the period between April and October 2014, India exported buffalo meat worth Rs 16,083 crore ($2,660 million), a rise of nearly 16 per cent over the same period last year, showed data from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda). In the same period, Basmati rice export was worth Rs 15,789 crore ($2,621 mn), a rise of close to two per cent over the year-ago period. Lower demand for Indian Basmati, particularly in Iran, has led to decline in rice exports.

In terms of quantity, the total buffalo meat export was 817,844 tonnes in April-October, a rise of 14 per cent over the same period last year. However, experts say, in the last one month, the Brazilian currency has depreciated almost 20 per cent, while the Indian currency has not. Thus, India lost the price advantage in the Gulf and North Africa, where it is competing with Brazil's export. This will result in meat exports declining and it is showing from December.

Russia has allowed import of buffalo meat from India and has approved a few factories but exports have not yet begun because of a sharp fall in rouble rates against the dollar.

Two factors have contributed to the rise in buffalo meat export during the year till November. One is the newly standardised slaughter house norms, which have made Indian meat more acceptable abroad. The other is high demand for buffalo meat in China. It is the only country that imports buffalo offal (liver, tongue, heart, tail, etc) from India. Buffalo offal is not consumed in India.

Nearly 45 per cent of India's total buffalo meat export is now to China, routed through Vietnam, as China is yet to open its door for direct import of buffalo meat from India. In 2013, India and China signed a pact for direct export of buffalo meat but it is yet to be implemented. Buffalo meat export to Vietnam was Rs 7,152 crore ($1,181 mn) in April-October, a nearly 37 per cent increase in value over the same period last year.