Easing of India’s soybean import policy helped lower domestic soybean prices

India has traditionally been self-sufficient in the production of commodities used to manufacture animal feed. During a shortage of poultry feed in 2021, India’s domestic soybean price surged to more than 65,000 rupees ($879 U.S. dollars) per metric ton. To ease supplies, India introduced a temporary policy change permitting the one-time import of 1.2 million metric tons of soybean meal and soy cake produced using genetically engineered (GE) soybeans, which India had previously banned. Domestic soybean prices declined but surged again in early 2022 before dropping considerably after the reapproval of GE soybean product imports in May 2022. The temporary relaxation of import restrictions boosted India’s role in the global soybean market, and India’s domestic soybean price has since remained connected with the global soybean price. Chicken demand has been growing in India as average incomes have increased, but a constrained supply of domestic feed ingredients and trade restrictions limit poultry supply and creates obstacles to expanded animal protein consumption in India. Trade expansion that increases the domestic supply of soybeans and lowers feed ingredient and feed prices could benefit both India’s feed sector and its growing poultry industry. This chart is drawn from the USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) report, Assessing the Recent Shift in the Price Relationship Between India’s and Global Grain Markets, published in April 2025. Also see the ERS report The Growing Demand for Animal Products and Feed in India: Future Prospects for Production, Trade, and Technology Innovation, published in March 2025.