Indian poultry sector wants maize futures banned

The poultry industry has requested to remove maize from the list of
commodities allowed for forward trading with immediate effect. “Ban export of
maize immediately and reduce the rate of import duty of maize under basic tariff
quota to zero”, NECC said.

The meeting pointed out that the
poultry industry is currently facing a crisis due to an unprecedented increase
in the price of maize, which is the most crucial ingredient of poultry feed, and
accounts for more than 80% of the cost of production of eggs and
broilers.

At the present level of production, poultry sector contributes
approximately Rs 35,000 crore (US$7.827 billion) to the GNP and provides direct
and indirect employment to more than 3.2 million persons, mostly in the rural
areas.

Nearly 20 million agricultural farmers who grow essential
ingredients of poultry feed such as maize and soybean are also directly
dependent on the poultry sector, since 90% of the maize produced in India is
consumed by the poultry industry, NECC said.

NECC pointed out that prices
of maize have doubled in the past few months from normally Rs 550 per quintal
(US$12.30 per 100 kg) to almost Rs 1,000 per quintal (US$22.36/100 kg).