India’s buffalo exports fell 4.35% in the April-May period of this year to $530 million compared with the same period last year, according to a written answer by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha. The answer comes at a time when the Centre has been trying to ban the sale of cattle for slaughter. While the notification by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has since been put on hold by the Supreme Court, reported violence against cattle traders and transporters has been on the rise across the country.
“While no complaint was received in this Ministry with regard to prevention in the production of meat and leather, as per the DGCI&S (Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics) data, the export of buffalo meat has declined by 4.35% as compared to the same period in the previous year,” the reply said.
“During the previous year 2016-17 (April to May), the buffalo export was $554 million whereas during the current year export was noticed at $530 million for the same period.”
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The data provided by Ms. Sitharaman shows, however, that buffalo meat exports have been declining for some time now. The total amount of buffalo meat exported during 2016-17 was 1,330,753 million tonnes, down 11.5% from the amount exported two years previously.
This trend of declining exports is consistent with what is seen for other meat as well. Sheep and goat meat exports fell from 23,612 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 22,049 million tonnes in 2016-17. Similarly, exports of ‘other meat’ declined to just 12 million tonnes in 2016-17 from 262 million tonnes.