Millets Export from India to Grow Manyfold in Coming Years

Export of millets from India is set to increase exponentially in the coming years on increased demands from new markets, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

"With demand for nutria-cereals rising steadily globally, the Department of Commerce expects millets export to increase exponentially in the coming years as Indian exporters find new markets abroad," the ministry said in a statement.

India is the fifth largest exporter of millets in the world, according to 2020 data, with exports continuously increasing at around 3 per cent CAGR in the last five years ending with 2020.

In 2020-21, India exported millets worth $26.97 million against $28.5 million in 2019-20. World export of millet has increased from $380 million in 2019 to $402.7 million in 2020.

Globally, major exporters of millets are the USA, Russian Federation, Ukraine, India, China, Netherlands, France, Poland and Argentina. Together, their millets exports stood at $221.68 million in 2020. Global exports of millets in 2020 stood at $466.284 million.

The top three importers of millets from India in 2020-21 were Nepal ($6.09 million), UAE ($4.84 million), and Saudi Arabia ($3.84 million). The other seven destinations in the top-ten list of India's millet export are Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, the UK, Yemen, Oman and Algeria.

Altogether, these ten countries imported millets worth $22.03 million from India. Other countries accounted for millets imports worth of $5.13 million from India, taking the grand total of imports from India in 2020-21 to $27.43 million, according to DGCIS data.

India is the world leader in the production of millets with a share of around 41 per cent of total world production in 2020. India produces around 12 million MT of millets annually, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare data.

The various kinds of millets include sorghum (Jowar), pearl millet (Bajra), finger millet (Ragi), little millet (Kutki), small millet (Samai), foxtail millet (Kangni), proso millet (Barri), barnyard millet (Jhangora), kodo millet (Kodra), two pseudo millets (buckwheat and kuttu), Ameranthus (Chulai) and other millets.