India’s exports of millets are expected to increase significantly in the coming years on account of rising demand in the global markets, the commerce ministry said on Tuesday. Currently, India is the fifth largest exporter of millets in the world, it added.

In 2020-21, India exported millets worth $26.97 million against $28.5 million in 2019-20.

Major exporters of millets are the US, Russia, Ukraine, India, China, Netherlands, France, Poland and Argentina. Global exports of millets in 2020 stood at $466.284 million.

The top three importers of millets from India in 2020-21 were Nepal ($6.09 million), the UAE ($4.84 million) and Saudi Arabia ($3.84 million).

The other destinations included Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, UK, Yemen, Oman and Algeria.

“With demand for nutria-cereals rising steadily globally, the Department of Commerce expects millet exports to increase exponentially in the coming years as Indian exporters find new markets abroad,” it said.

The ministry is working towards facilitating shipments of millets by domestic exporters and helping them make inroads into new markets, it added.

India is the world leader in the production of millets with a share of around 41 per cent of total global production in 2020. India produces around 12 million tonnes of millets annually, according to data by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

The various kinds of millets include sorghum (jowar), pearl millet (bajra), finger millet (ragi), little millet (kutki), small millet (samai), foxtail millet (kangni), proso millet (barri), barnyard millet (jhangora), kodo millet (kodra), two pseudo millets (buckwheat and kuttu), and Ameranthus (chulai), among others.

“To give impetus to the export of potential products as well as to remove the bottlenecks in the supply chain of nutria-cereals, APEDA has created the Nutri Cereals Export Promotion Forum which also included millet exports. It has also organized a sensitization programme for millet start-ups to familiarize them about export opportunities,” the ministry said.