Buffalo meat leading India's export of animal products

India continues to play a crucial role in the global animal products market, emerging as a leading producer of high-quality items such as milk, meat and eggs. In 2023-24, India’s animal product exports amounted to ₹37,665.51 crore ($4,543.52 million), with buffalo meat emerging as the dominant contributor. Buffalo meat alone accounted for ₹31,010.10 crore ($3,740.53 million), representing over 82 per cent of the total exports.

The APEDA data show that other notable exports included sheep and goat meat (₹643.55 crore/$77.68 million), poultry products (₹1,530.20 crore/$184.58 million), dairy products (₹2,260.94 crore/$272.64 million), and natural honey (₹1,470.84 crore/$177.52 million). India successfully exports buffalo meat to more than 70 countries globally in South-East Asia, West Asia, Africa, CIS Countries, etc. Major markets of Indian buffalo meat are Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Indonesia, the UAE, Algeria and Russia.

According to recent data, the country secured the top spot as the world’s largest milk producer in 2022, contributing to 24 per cent of global milk production. In addition, India accounted for 7.25 per cent of the global egg output in 2021. It boasted the world’s largest population of milch animals, including 109.85 million buffaloes, 148.88 million goats and 74.26 million sheep in 2019.

Livestock GVA growth

Livestock value in the agricultural sector has shown consistent growth over the five years. In 2018-19, the value was ₹540,970 crore, which increased to ₹690,268 crore by 2022-23. This represents an overall increase of approximately 27.62 per cent over the period. This indicates that the livestock sector is growing in absolute terms and becoming a larger contributor to the agricultural sector’s GVA. Data show that livestock is becoming increasingly important in India’s agricultural economy. Both the absolute value and the share of livestock in the overall agricultural sector are on an upward trajectory.

Agri sector benefits

As global markets continue to seek Indian buffalo meat and other products, India’s agricultural sector benefits from the robust export performance. As per the estimation made by working group on “Demand and Supply Projections Towards 2033” of NITI Aayog, the demand of animal products such as milk, egg and other non-veg items such as fish, egg and meat has been estimated to increase to 33 per cent, 47 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively in 2021-22 over 2011-12.

Interestingly, answering whether the government has studied the impact on meat import and export due to prevailing social phenomena like protests and mob attacks, the Ministry of Food Processing and Industries told Lok Sabha in August that it has not “conducted any such study”.