India to grant import duty concessions on select US agricultural products

India has agreed to provide import duty concessions to certain US agricultural products such as dried distillers' grains (DDGs), red sorghum and apples for animal feed.

According to a joint statement, India and the US have agreed on a framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, which is expected to be signed by mid-March.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters that India will provide quota-based tariff concessions on US agricultural products such as DDGs, soybean oil, apples, long staple cotton and soybean oil.

"We have opened our markets for the US in a calibrated manner on some products like Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS), wines and spirits in which we have kept a minimum import price also," Goyal said.

 

When asked if DDG's have GM (genetically modified) soymeal, the minister assured that the environment ministry has prescribed processes on allowing the import of GM materials in India, which will be followed.

According to the US Grains and Bioproducts Council, Distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) are the nutrient rich co-product of dry-milled ethanol production. DDGS utilization as a feed ingredient is well documented as both an energy and a protein supplement.

Combined, US ethanol plants possess the capacity to produce more than 15 billion gallons of ethanol and 44 million metric tons of DDGS, according to the council.

The Council has been instrumental in educating the global market on the nutritional benefit of DDGS. Its exports have exploded from 5 million tons in 2009 to more than 10 million metric tons in 58 countries in 2022/2023.

Mexico purchased the bulk of DDGS exports, consisting of more than 20 per cent of the export market, while South Korea was the second largest importer. Vietnam, Indonesia and Canada were among the top five importers for 2022/2023, according to the council's portal.