Exports of Livestock Products from India: Performance, Competitiveness and Determinants

The paper has examined temporal changes in the composition of livestock exports, assessed the exportcompetitiveness of different livestock products and analysed the factors affecting the growth of livestockexport. The performance of livestock export has been found noteworthy. The liberalization policy initiatedin 1991 seems to have improved the performance of livestock exports. The study has revealed that India iscompetitive in export of meat products, except poultry. The export of buffalo meat has been increasingconsistently and the poor domestic demand has further fuelled its export. But, the export of mutton doesnot seem to have much prospects in the short-run, as even the domestic demand is not being met bydomestic production. In milk and milk products, India has some advantage at the farm level, but is notcompetitive in export of milk and milk products under the prevailing world market situation. The domesticpolicy initiatives and increased production and productivity have been identified as the important factorsin increasing the export of livestock products. The study has suggested that strengthening of exportsupply capacity domestically holds the key for enhancing export of livestock products rather than expandingworld market.