India may need US soybean meal imports despite being currently self-sufficient and amid growing poultry sectors. The need for import of US soybean meal is driven by the rising demand of poultry sector in India. Divya Kumar Gulati, Chairman of the Compound Livestock Feed Manufacturers Association (CLFMA) while speaking at a curtain raiser event for the 17th Poultry India Expo, which is scheduled to be held in Hyderabad from November 25-28 said that trade negotiations between India and the US could pave the way for imports of the protein-rich animal feed ingredient.
Though, India is currently self-sufficient in protein-rich animal feed may need to rely on US Soybean meal imports to meet the rapidly growing demand from its poultry sector. In this context, it is expected that the ongoing trade negotiations with the US will pave the way for these imports, as the farmers in the USA are already facing reduced sales due to China’s halt in purchases. India is mainly focused on the imports of soybean meal rather than whole soybeans. Unlike GM soybeans, soybean meal is non-GMO and non-viable, and its import for livestock feed is already permitted under regulated quotas at authorized ports. India has previously imported the product, and the framework for controlled imports is well established.
The government first allowed the import of 1.2 million tonne GM soybean meal in 2021 with additional import quotas granted in 2022. However, these imports remain tightly regulated and are under strict guidelines and only limited to certain authorized ports with prior clearance requirements.