Maize Industry gets a Lead from India Maize Summit 2015

The Maize industry got together on its apex platform here to discuss the growth strategy and competitiveness as a measure to boost the productivity of maize and maize processing industry. Over 200 delegates representing the entire value chain of Maize including farmers from across the maize producing states like Bihar, Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, etc. came together for two days to ponder over the major challenges and opportunities related to the third most produced cereal crop in the country.

Inaugurating the “India Maize Summit 2015” jointly organized by commodity exchange NCDEX and industry body FICCI, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Hon’ble Union Minister for Food Processing Industry highlighted the government’s priorities for maize and maize processing industry. This is the third consecutive year that NCDEX and FICCI have taken this initiative to provide a global platform to entire maize value chain; including policy makers and trade participants to discuss opportunities and challenges prevailing in industry.

NCDEX is the leading online national platform for Maize in India. The recent launch of Maize Forwards on NCDEX has received a good response from maize traders, FPOs and millers among others. Participants from maize trading hubs like Purnia, Delhi, Sangli & Indore are actively using the NCDEX platform. In the Forwards segment alone, the Exchange has registered 4100 tonnes of trades out of which 4070 tonnes has already been delivered. 

Mr. Samir Shah, MD & CEO, NCDEX said “While there is considerable scope for product related improvements, there is also an urgent need to address integration challenges faced by the industry. Commodity exchanges play a critical role in acting as a platform that industry can access for integrating the value chain as well as offsetting the risk it is exposed to.”

Maize is the most widely distributed crops of the world and ranks first in the world production followed by wheat and rice.  Maize is utilized domestically for poultry and cattle feed, food, manufacturing of starch and other industrial purposes. Even in Asia, the rapid increase in maize acreage in the last decade is an indication that it is winning the battle as compared with rice, the staple food. The Asian region will see itself as a major global player in the near term.

In India too, it has been consistently growing in recent years. The last few years have also seen an increase in the quantity of Maize exported to different countries. With increasing demand for value added foods and industrial requirements from a growing economy andpopulation, maize will hold its share as an important cereal crop.