New Delhi, March 20 (Mayank Nigam) Reaching all-time high, India’s maize exports stood at $ 816.31 million in the first 10 months of current fiscal. “The export of maize has touched $ 816.31 million in the first ten months of current fiscal 2021-22 (April-January), already exceeding the $ 634.85 million achieved during the last financial year,” Commerce Ministry said on Sunday. Neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal are the major importers of maize from India. Bangladesh has imported maize worth $ 345.5 million in the current fiscal (April-January), while Nepal imported maize worth $ 132.16 million during this period. Vietnam has emerged as a major destination for export of maize. India exported maize worth $ 244.24 million to Vietnam during April-January period of the current financial year 2021-22.
Other major importing countries are Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Taiwan and Oman. “The significant rise in agri-exports is seen as a testimony of the government’s commitment to increase farmers’ income through creating requisite infrastructure and improving value chains on boosting exports of agricultural and processed food products,” said Dr M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA. Maize is the third most important cereal crop in India after rice and wheat. The cereal crop is primarily cultivated in the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.