India’s corn supplies tightening on strong local demand

Strong domestic demand is tightening India’s corn supplies, with the country’s consumption of the animal feed ingredient seen growing by up to 2 million metric tons a year, a senior executive of global trading firm Louis Dreyfus said.

India has been a key corn exporter in Asia, supplying buyers in Southeast Asia, but shipments have dwindled in recent years amid rising local consumption.

“The corn balance sheet in India is very tight,” Garima Jain, deputy CEO and head of grains for India at Louis Dreyfus Company, told Reuters.

India’s corn exports have almost ground to a halt since December due to a rally in local prices on strong demand from the poultry and ethanol industry, making shipments from the country more expensive than those from rivals, according to four exporters last week.

For India’s wheat supplies, Jain said the country’s stocks are above the government’s buffer norms, even though inventories have dropped in recent years.

India has banned wheat exports since 2022 and there has been market talk about the country turning to imports to meet domestic demand.

However, India’s trade minister said earlier this month the country is not planning to import wheat.

Wheat stocks at state warehouses stood at 16.47 million metric tons as of Jan. 1, the lowest since 2017.

“The food Minister is estimating and they have said that the wheat crop of India is going to be 114 million tonnes. So, keeping that in mind, we are at a very comfortable position,” she said on the sidelines of a commodities conference.

Tags: wheat, India, corn