The reply: Buffalo meat, the shipments of which surged by 25.6% to $5.1 billion in 2025-26 (April-March). The present fiscal has seen additional progress, a whopping 66.6% from $896.8 million in April-June 2025 to just about $1.5 billion in April-June 2026.
“We crossed $5 billion for the primary time final fiscal and are on monitor to do $6 billion-plus in 2026-27,” stated a Commerce Ministry official.
Nevertheless it’s not simply general worth improve. Extra spectacular is the worth realisation per tonne.
In 2014-15, India exported 14.8 lakh tonnes (lt) of buffalo meat price $4.8 billion, translating into a mean worth of $3,240 per tonne. The following years until 2023-24 recorded a drop within the worth in addition to amount of exports (see charts), and in addition common realisations to $2,700-3,000 ranges.
The revival began in 2024-25, when exports touched $4.1 billion at a unit worth of $3,236 per tonne. The latter quantity rose to $3,591 in 2025-26 and $4,392 throughout April-June 2026.
Supply: Division of Commerce
“The upper unit worth realisations point out improved product acceptability of Indian buffalo meat. This has been enabled by authorities coverage, permitting exports solely from vegetation registered by the Agricultural and Processed Meals Merchandise Export Growth Authority (APEDA) that’s conditional upon their assembly stringent security, hygiene and infrastructure necessities. We additionally guarantee ongoing compliance via periodic and shock inspections,” the official defined.
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Supply: Division of Commerce
India has 83 APEDA-approved built-in abattoirs-cum-meat processing vegetation that may deal with between 500 and a pair of,000 giant animals (buffaloes) every each day. As well as, there are 5 standalone slaughterhouses and 10 meat processing vegetation registered by APEDA for export goal.
Market widening and deepening
“Within the final couple of years, we’ve consciously labored at making Indian buffalo meat a world model and never a quantity two different to cattle beef. The world too is recognising our product high quality and security requirements,” claimed Fauzan Alavi, secretary of the All-India Buffalo and Sheep Meat Exporters Affiliation.
That is mirrored in Indian buffalo meat being beforehand exported at $3,000 per tonne versus $5,000 for Brazilian beef. That hole or low cost has since decreased to $500-700 per tonne
India is the world’s third largest bovine meat exporter. Its projected quantity of 17 lt (in carcass weight equal) for 2026 is subsequent to Brazil’s 42.8 lt and Australia’s 21.6 lt, as per US Division of Agriculture information. The nation’s prime three exporters are the Mumbai-based Allanasons Personal Ltd, the Abu Dhabi-headquartered LuLu Group-owned Truthful Exports India, and HMA Agro Industries, Agra.
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Indian buffalo meat, additionally referred to as carabeef, is broadly used for processed industrial meals reminiscent of sausages, burger patties, emulsified nuggets, canned and ready-to-eat merchandise. However there’s a concerted try now at boosting worth realisation by promoting extra via retail channels – together with in 1-kg or much less shopper packs, as in opposition to 20-30 kg bulk frozen blocks.
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APEDA has, since October 29, been imposing a Rs 250/tonne levy on exports of all frozen and chilled buffalo meat. The proceeds go in direction of a Meat Export Growth Fund, much like the one created for basmati rice in 2008.
“The fund is supposed for selling exports, each to new and present markets. It covers actions from sponsoring commerce delegation visits and worldwide buyer-seller gala’s, to addressing non-tariff boundaries proscribing market entry,” the earlier-quoted official added.
That these efforts are bearing fruit is borne out by the diversification of export locations.
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In 2014-15, 45% of India’s $4.8 billion buffalo meat exports went to Vietnam ($2.2 billion), adopted by Malaysia ($422.9 million), Egypt ($422.3 million), Thailand ($393.4 million), Saudi Arabia ($259 million), United Arab Emirates ($130.8 million), Algeria ($125.1 million) and Philippines ($115.8 million).
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Lower to 2025-26, the place out of the entire $5.1 billion, 10 nations imported over $100 million price every: Vietnam ($933.9 million), Egypt ($725 million), Malaysia ($654.1 million), UAE ($444.2 million), Saudi Arabia ($359.3 million), Uzbekistan ($307 million), Indonesia ($301.3 million), Iraq ($300.1 million), Philippines ($176.6 million) and Jordan ($105.5 million).
“Uzbekistan is a brand new market. So are others which have develop into vital consumers: Russia ($97.5 million), Georgia ($70.5 million), Oman ($82.7 million) and Senegal ($70.9 million),” the official famous.
Supporting the dairy financial system
The success story of buffalo meat exports isn’t restricted to market growth resulting in greater unit worth realisations. It additionally ticks all the precise containers with respect to India’s livestock financial system and its dairy farmers.
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India doesn’t allow export of beef (cattle meat). Even export of carabeef is from buffaloes that don’t produce sufficient milk after round 5 calvings/lactations (once they can be 8-9 years previous), are infertile, have broken udders or occur to be male. For farmers, sustaining them is uneconomical, each direct and oblique by way of diverting fodder, feed, water and labour assets away from bovines giving milk now or in future.
By offering a marketplace for unproductive animals, the meat export trade has been complementary to dairying. A buffalo weighing, say 400 kg, yields roughly 125 kg of meat, with bones, cover, edible and non-edible offals, blood, horns, hooves and undigested meals/ingesta constituting the remaining.
Taking a mean boneless meat yield of 100 kg, the 14-15 lt exported yearly would entail culling of 1.4-1.5 crore animals.
Given India’s whole buffalo inhabitants of 11 crore (2019 Livestock Census), it permits farmers to systematically change their low-yielding/getting older animals with high-milking/younger inventory. The advisable herd turnover ratio for business dairy cattle is, in truth, 25-30%.
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“In Brazil, Australia or US, beef cattle compete with dairy cattle for scarce assets. In India, we’ve no such competitors as a result of cattle and buffaloes aren’t raised particularly for meat. Solely non-milk yielding buffaloes are culled, which is definitely useful to the dairy sector,” an trade supply identified.
The acquisition worth that abattoirs pay for buffaloes relies on carcass yield – mainly the burden of meat and bones. That is normally 47-48% of dwell weight, understanding to about 190 kg for a 400-kg buffalo. The going price for animals delivered at vegetation in Uttar Pradesh at present is Rs 300-320 per kg of carcass weight. On 190 kg, that involves Rs 57,000-60,800.
For a dairy farmer, a 3.5-4-year-old, first-time lactating buffalo able to producing 2,000 litres or extra yearly prices Rs 1.25-1.5 lakh. If the farmer realises Rs 50,000 for a spent buffalo, it might cowl a minimum of a 3rd of the associated fee for a brand new productive animal. The meat trade, thus, provides to the viability of her dairy enterprise, by making it attainable to commonly change older buffaloes with recent inventory.
Bullish on buffalo
That has relevance within the current time, when demand for high-fat milk in India is rising at twice the speed of regular toned milk, in accordance with R.S. Sodhi, former managing director of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Advertising and marketing Federation.
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“We’re additionally seeing greater progress for ghee, cream, paneer, ice-cream and khoa-based sweets. The minimize of their items and providers tax charges to 0-5%, apart from latest crackdowns on adulterated ghee and analogue khoa and paneer, has additional fuelled demand for these merchandise. And so they all require high-fat milk, which comes largely from buffaloes,” he famous.
Dairy vegetation in UP are procuring buffalo milk at a price of Rs 880-920 per kg fats. For six.5% fats milk, the corresponding worth can be Rs 59-62 per litre. With a mean Rs 60/litre realisation from sale of milk and Rs 50,000 from previous/unfit animals, farmers have incentive to rear buffaloes and increase manufacturing on the again of rising shopper demand.
What buffalo meat exporters are searching for is coverage predictability and stability. They level to 5 vegetation in UP – A.Q. Frozen Meals (Amroha), Al-Falah International and Al-Rehman Frozen Meals (Sambhal), Al Haq Meals (Unnao) and Omar Worldwide (Bijnor) – which have been shut down, regardless of assembly all of the compliances for APEDA registration.
“The Yogi Adiyanath administration is obvious about two issues – no culling of govansh (cattle) and no unlawful slaughterhouses working with out licence – and we utterly welcome that. Our issues are when officers at decrease ranges observe guidelines totally different from that laid on the prime,” the trade supply clarified.
