CLFMA of India Chairman Divya Kumar Gulati
The talk of likely curbs over using sugarcane to manufacture ethanol has raised concerns among the livestock feed makers, who fear increased competition for maize going ahead from ethanol producers. They want the government to secure supplies of maize for the feed sector, as it has been the single source of feedstock, whereas ethanol can be produced from other grains such as rice, said CLFMA of India chairman, Divya Kumar Gulati.
“The government has to balance and first take care of this sector, because we have no alternatives to maize. However, for ethanol, there are other grains available,” Gulati said.
“We have been making continuous representation to the government to secure supplies. We will continue to make representation that first you need to protect our sector and whatever balance you give to ethanol, we have no problem.” he said.
Drop in area
Further, Gulati said, prospects for maize crop this year have been impacted by a drop in acreage and also weak and delayed rains on account of El Nino. “The acreage has gone down, the plantation is down and now we are expecting the El Nino effect, also due to which the yields will also get impacted,” he added.
As per the Agriculture Ministry’s latest sowing data as of September 11, maize acreage stood at 91.59 lakh hectares, down 2.64 per cent over c 94.08 lakh hectare a year ago. In drought-hit Karnataka, the area is down 21 per cent at 13.38 lh (17 lh a year ago), while in Maharasthra the decline in area is 11 per cent at 12.98 lh (14.52 lh) and in Madhya Pradesh 2 per cent at 26.4 lh (27 lh).
Satellite crop survey
The feed industry has come together and commissioned a satellite imagery based crop survey for maize. The survey is still going on. “On the first run of satellite imagery, we have seen a 14 per cent shortage. In the second run, as the plants are not grown to that level in some areas, the drop could be 8-9 per cent. Plus, if the yield goes down, which means we are looking at a deficit of 11-12 per cent in total,” he said.
From a production of around 45 million tonnes during kharif and rabi seasons last year, we may go back to our earlier figures of 38-39 million tonnes, which means again problem for the sector, Gulati said. “Out of this, if you give away 9-10 million tonnes, we had it. Prices of maize are ruling high around Rs 2,700-2,800 levels per quintal, ahead of the new crop arrivals, and will be higher. So we are heading towards disaster for sure”, he said.
Critical raw material
The USDA local office in New Delhi has cut the India’s corn output estimates by 10 per cent to 50 million tonnes from last year’s 55 million tonnes with weak rains impacting kharif acreages while clouding prospects for rabi and summer crops.
Maize is one of the critical raw material for the Indian feed manufacturers, especially poultry feed, where it accounts for 50-60 per cent of the feed formulations. As demand for maize rises from ethanol makers, feed mills are facing tighter supply and stronger price competition. The poultry sector is the most affected by the rise in maize prices because the broiler and layer feed are heavily-maize based. Feed typically accounts fro 60-70 per cent of the poultry production cost and inflation in maize prices has a direct impact on the prices of eggs and chicken meat.
India’s animal feed market, which touched a volume of 57.73 million tonnes in 2025, representing a CAGR of 8 per cent during 2020-2025, is expected to reach 88.96 million tonnes, riding on the growth of the livestock industry. The animal feed marketing is expected to grow by CAGR of 9.7 per cent during 2026-2030, as per CLFMA estimates.
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