The Growing Demand for Animal Products and Feed in India: Future Prospects for Production, Trade, and Technology Innovation

India’s population and income are expected to grow steadily through the year 2050, which could lead to increased domestic demand for animal food products (e.g., meat, dairy, and eggs). While India has largely been self-sufficient in animal feed, with imports of major feed commodities remaining under 2 percent of consumption since 2000, a large amount of soybean meal was imported in 2021 when domestic prices increased relative to global prices. Other changes in relative prices could have similar effects on net imports of feed. For this study, the authors developed feed demand and supply projections for India through 2050. The projections indicate that India’s animal product demand will increase more quickly than supply and that India will have difficulty in meeting domestic feed demand if productivity is not increased above historical patterns. By the early 2030s, India will need imports to meet its growing animal feed demand, and imports will continue to grow through 2050. Use of genetically engineered seeds offer one potential opportunity to increase supply.