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Naig: India’s growing protein “gap” could boost U.S. soy, grain exports

Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture is increasingly bullish on export opportunities with India.

Mike Naig says this month’s trade mission marked the second time he’s visited the country during the past year.

“You just go another layer deeper when you travel back to a market in that kind of timeframe. So big takeaways continue to be that you’ve got just an incredible opportunity here. Significant population, largest in the world, 1.5 billion people.”

With a growing middle class, he tells Brownfield India has a widening protein gap that U.S. agriculture can help fill primarily with dried distillers grains and soybean meal.

“They will view it as how can they grow their own as much as they can and be self-sufficient, but then they will have to, we believe, look at importing some either feed and or protein to meet that demand. So I think that’s the real opportunity there in the near term.”

Naig says a U.S.-India trade agreement would help ease friction between the two countries.

“And it actually softened, we felt the warming happen the week we were there. The nominee for Ambassador to India had his confirmation hearing, President Trump and Prime Minister Modi exchanged positive messages.”

And by the end of the week, he says most of the trade delegation came away believing it’s not a matter of if but when the U.S. and India strike a deal.