 "Buffalo meat exports down by 30% on lower Chinese demand")
India’s buffalo meat exports declined 30 per cent during April-June. The fall was mainly on account of a 50 per cent dip in demand from China. India’s export of buffalo meat to China is routed through Vietnam. China is yet to formally open a direct import route from India for buffalo meat, despite an agreement to that effect was signed in 2013.
Buffalo meat has traditionally been one of India’s top agri-export commodities, generating about $4 billion a year.
According to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority data, in the first three months of the current financial year, buffalo meat exports were down almost 10 per cent in terms of quantity, and 11 per cent in value. Exports to Vietnam were down by nearly 20 per cent in both quantity and value.
The fall in Brazilian currency also impacted India's competitiveness as Brazil is also a major buffalo meat exporter.
“We believe there have been some issues with the customs clearance at China, which has been reluctant to buy buffalo meat that has been indirectly exported to their country via Vietnam,” said D B Sabharwal, secretary, All India Meat & Livestock Exporters' Association.
According to Mohammed Ather, chairman and managing director, Azan Group, his company’s monthly exports to China via Vietnam have declined from around 160 containers (of 29 tonnes each) a month about six months ago, to less than 50 containers at present. China accounts of nearly 80 per cent of Azan Group’s total exports.
In FY15, Vietnam accounted for 42 per cent of the total buffalo meat exports from India to China. In terms of valuation, Vietnam accounts for 45 per cent of the total realisation from buffalo exports from India. Last year, India exported 14.75 lakh quintal buffalo meat worth $4,781 million. Of this, Vietnam’s share was 6.3 lakh quintal worth $2,153 million.
In FY15, buffalo meat was India’s largest agri-export commodity, surpassing Basmati rice, which had traditionally occupied the first position.
In tandem with the huge fall in demand from China, the average prices of buffalo meat has also come down by around 25 per cent in the past six months.
At present, the average price of buffalo meat in the international market is $3,000-4,000 a tonne.
Amidst an economic slowdown, China had been curtailing imports from Vietnam. China is Vietnam’s biggest trading partner. Soon after the devaluation of Chinese currency yuan by nearly two per cent on August 11, Vietnam devalued its currency, dong, by nearly one per cent, the third time in a year. This apart, the strained relationship over South China Sea had also been a cause of tension between the two countries.
