India on the rise to become top bovine meat exporter

The global body has noted how India between 2006 and 2016 became a bovine meat export power house (notably in buffalo meat) with overseas sales rising from 79,400 tonnes (1.9% of world exports) to 1.2 million tonnes (18.7%) and the world’s largest exporter to boot.

India’s growth, in terms of market share at least, came as some traditional exporters lost market position – Australia falling from 24.6% of the world bovine meat export market in 2006 to 15.7% (1 million tonnes); and Brazil from 20.6% to 15.7%. Volume sales for these countries was steadier though, given global export sales rose from 4.1 million in 2006 to 6.8 million in 2016.

By contrast, Brazil’s poultry export sector boomed during these years, with the WTO noting that it commanded 40.8% of global export sales in 2016 – 4 million tonnes out of 9.9 million tonnes worldwide. This was up from a Brazilian share of 28.3% in 2007 (representing 2 million tonnes). For poultry, a loser in export market share was the USA, which dominated in 2007 with 46.1% of overseas poultry sales (3.2 million tonnes), down to 19% in 2016, representing 1.8 million tonnes.

Regarding sheep meat, the global duopoly shared by Australia and New Zealand persisted, controlling 40.6% and 48.8% respectively of export sales worldwide in 2007 and 47% and 41.2% respectively in 2017. Pig meat export sales also remained relatively stable – although the European Union (EU) made significant gains – up from 26.3% in 2007 to 36.6% in 2016, and Canada’s share falling from 22.6% to 15.5%, albeit in a fast-growing global market.

Worldwide, pig meat exports rose from 3.4 million tonnes in 2007 to 6.4 million in 2016. Meanwhile, there were some significant shifts in share regarding export sales of live animals (by value), with the EU performing strongly, with its market share rising from 17.7% in 2007 (US$1.4 billion) to 26.9% in 2016 (US$2.9 billion). Key livestock supplier Canada, however, lost market share – from 28.6% in 2007 (US$2.2 billion) to 14.9% in 2016 (US$1.6 billion).

EU export sales quoted cover trades with non-EU countries and not sales between EU member states. They also cover all the current 28 member countries in the union. The data also covers animal feed commodities, such as oil seeds.