Datanomics: Corn symbolises thorny issues in US-India trade talks

India’s resistance to significantly increase the import of US corn has been one of the friction points in the ongoing trade talks. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently said that India has 1.4 billion people but it “does not import a single bushel of corn from the US”. However, corn accounts for less than 1 per cent of India’s overall agricultural & allied imports. And India imports only a minuscule share of corn from the US. In fact, between FY18 and FY25, India’s annual corn imports from the US averaged just about $ two million. The reasons: higher import tariffs and India’s restrictions on genetically modified (GMO) corn, which is widely grown in the US.

 

FY25 records highest imports almost in a decade 

 

India’s total corn imports from all countries fluctuated during eight years from 2017-18 but it rose sharply by 571 per cent at $259.81 million in FY25 year-on-year. 

 

Corn imports from the US remain minuscule 

India’s corn imports from the US were just $ three million in FY18, accounting for 0.3 per cent of total agricultural imports from that country. The imports fell to $2.2 million by FY25 and the share to 0.1 per cent.   

US is a minor source country 

    

The share of corn imports from the US in India’s total inbound shipment of that produce fell drastically to 0.8 per cent FY25 from 19 per cent in FY18.