India’s buffalo-meat exports crossed $5.1bn in FY2025-26
India’s buffalo-meat export sector recorded $5.1bn in sales during FY2025-26, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). Government projections put exports above $6bn in FY2026-27.
The average export value increased from $3,236 per metric tonne in FY2024-25 to $3,591 in FY2025-26. It reached $4,392 per tonne in the April-to-June 2026 quarter. The trade has also expanded its destination markets, with established buyers in Asia and the Middle East joined by customers in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
Indian livestock rules prohibit the slaughter of cows. Buffalo meat exports, known as carabeef, instead draw on animals that are no longer economically productive for dairy farming. These include older or low-yielding buffaloes, infertile females, animals with damaged udders and surplus male calves.
Dairy farmers can sell such animals through abattoirs registered with APEDA and receive roughly ₹50,000, or about $600, per buffalo. The proceeds can be used to buy younger, higher-yielding heifers. The system applies across a buffalo population of about 110m animals and provides a recovery value when a milking buffalo reaches the end of its productive cycle.
R.S. Sodhi, a former managing director of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which markets products under the Amul brand, said demand for high-fat products was supporting buffalo milk prices. These products include ghee, paneer, cream, butter and sweets made with khoya. In procurement areas in Uttar Pradesh, processors were offering ₹880-920 per kilogram of milk fat, producing an average return of ₹60 per litre for raw buffalo milk.
Major exporters include Allanasons, Fair Exports India and HMA Agro Industries. Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each import more than $100m of Indian buffalo meat, according to the report. Uzbekistan, Russia, Georgia and Senegal are among the newer markets mentioned as Indian suppliers broaden their customer base.
