Demand and Supply Projections for Livestock Products in India

It is amazing that despite a continuous increase in the supply, per capita consumption of livestock products in India remains low. The per capita consumption of milk is only about half of its consumption in the US and Australia, and in the case of poultry meat, it is still lower, only about 12 per cent of the consumption in China. In the developing countries, the demand for livestock products is more elastic than the demand for cereals. This implies that with the rise in per capita income, the demand for livestock products would rise faster. The supply for these products is also highly price-elastic. In this study, the supply and demand functions for major livestock products have been evaluated, and projections have been made for the years 2010 and 2020. For demand analysis the study uses consumer expenditure data from 50th round of National Sample Survey Organization pertaining to the year 1993-94 while supply analysis is based on time series data on quantity, prices and technologies of livestock products for the period 1970 to 1998. The findings of the study provide an insight into the projections for 2020, and foresee holistically the demand and supply gap for livestock products.