Importance of maize and production expected to increase due to ethanol
13-Sep-2024 12:57 PM
New Delhi. Maize is now gradually becoming a major agricultural product in India. Although maize has been the most produced crop in the country after rice and wheat, but it was not considered very important and hence its price was also much below the government support price.
But now the demand for maize is increasing rapidly in animal feed, poultry feed and starch manufacturing industry as well as in ethanol production, due to which prices are increasing drastically and farmers are getting encouragement to increase its production accordingly.
At the national level, the average price of maize is currently around Rs 2300 per quintal, which is more than the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2090 per quintal.
Last year at this time, the price of maize was around Rs 1940 per quintal, compared to which the price is about 20 percent higher now.
The central government has increased the MSP of maize by 6.5 percent to Rs 2225 per quintal for the marketing season 2024-25.
The interesting fact is that on one hand the price of maize in India is high and strong, on the other hand it remains soft in the global market.
Non-GMO maize is being imported duty free from Myanmar and its cost of reaching the warehouses of South India is Rs 2680 per quintal, whereas the cost of maize imported from other parts of the country is around Rs 3000 per quintal.
Due to this difference in prices, the import of maize in the marketing season of 2023-24 increased to 5.40 lakh tonnes during October-June, which was the highest since the year 2000.
Import of maize from abroad may gradually turn into a necessity as the demand and consumption of this important coarse grain is likely to increase rapidly in the domestic sector.
About 360-370 lakh tonnes of maize is produced and used annually in the country, which also includes its export.
60 percent of maize is consumed in feed production, while 14 percent is used in starch and 7 percent is used in the food processing sector.
The remaining maize has been used for direct human consumption and export purposes. Now new demands from the ethanol industry will be added to this, which may create an imbalance.