According to Mansoor Nadeem Lari, managing director of Abdullah Fresh Foods in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a recent 500% collapse in the Indian goat meat exports has been sparked by rising domestic prices. “Within the last few years the prices jumped three times and are now ranging between US$6 to US$8 per kg,” he told Globalmeatnews.com. “With processing, chilling and transporting costs, the meat becomes uncompetitive in Arabian markets.”
According to the Indian Agricultural & Processed Export Development Authority, Indian goat meat exports shot up from 8,912 tonnes in the financial year ending March 2008 to 52,871 tonnes in the financial year ending March 2010, with most sent to to the Gulf countries.
However, in the financial year ending March 2012, these exports collapsed to 11,182 tonnes. According to Lari, the domestic prices for goat meat rose as the rise in export demand was not matched by supply growth. “Goats are primarily reared by landless farmers in the rural areas, who are unable to increase the size of their herds as there is no feed and fodder supply system for goats,” he said.
Recently, the central government announced the launch of a national livestock mission, which according to Lari, might benefit the goat-rearing industry. In the central government budget, tabled on 28 February, finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram announced an allocation of US$57m to boost and attract investment into the livestock industry and to enhance its productivity. He said there would also be additional spending on a programme to increase the availability of feed and fodder.
Explaining the jump in Indian exports prior to 2010, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, joint secretary at central government’s department of animal husbandry told Globalmeatnews.com that, “as the goat meat is lean on fat and therefore healthy, the Arabian nations started preferring it over the sheep meat imports from Australia”.