Market sees 2-4 mln tn corn deficit in 2024-25, says COFCO Intl's Jkoshi
This story was originally published at 18:41 IST on 27 March 2025
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NEW DELHI – The market sees a deficit of 2 million tonnes to 4 million tonnes of maize this year, according to Aromal Jkoshi, senior vice president-grains at COFCO International. "India is already seeing a deficit of 2-4 million tonnes. This deficit is only going to widen," he said, speaking at the Maize and Millet summit 2025 in New Delhi on Thursday.
The government pegged kharif maize output for 2024-25 at a record high of 24.8 million tonnes, up from 22.2 million tonnes last year. It estimates rabi output at 12.4 million tonnes, compared to 12.0 million tonnes last year. However, market participants have pegged rabi output around 10 million tonnes anticipating a loss in yield.
Jkoshi said the challenge for India in the coming year will be to bridge the supply-demand gap. "Even if ethanol demand does not go any further and stops at 20% blending, demand for starch and poultry will continue to grow," he said.
In a panel discussion at the event, experts said India's demand for maize is growing at 6% per annum. The experts said the country has to shift to genetically modified maize to increase yields.
Around 13% of maize produced in India is used for food purposes, around 50% as livestock feed, and rest in starch industry. Since last year, demand for ethanol has also increased as the government has restricted diversion of sugar for ethanol production. The unexpected demand from ethanol sector combined with lower production during kharif season in 2023-24 led to a rally in maize prices.
In January 2024, the government had raised the procurement price of ethanol made from corn to INR 71.86 per litre from INR 66.16 per litre, encouraging a move away from sugarcane-based ethanol due to dwindling sugarcane surpluses as the output of the crop was seen lower. End
Reported by Pallavi Singhal
Written by J. Navya Sruthi
Edited by Ashish Shirke
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