Browse Data and Analysis

On November 5, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare published a marketing year 2024/25 production forecast at the lowest level in five years, at 23.4 million 480 lb. bales on an area of 11.4 million hectares.

The cotton production forecast for 2024/25 has been revised downward to 5.2 million bales, with the area unchanged at 2 million hectares.

Indonesia’s National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) has drafted a new regulation that would mandate the use of a “Nutri-Level” front-of-pack labeling system for sugar, salt, and fat (SSF) content and set maximum SSF levels.

India’s 2025 beef production (mostly carabeef) is forecast to reach 4.64 million metric tons (MMT), up from 4.57 MMT in 2024, on steady domestic and increased export demand.

Sri Lanka’s agricultural biotechnology policies remain unchanged. Over the past year, there has been no progress in the approval of its draft Biosafety Act, which establishes a system to protect biodiversity, the environment and human, plant and animal health while minimizing the risks of biotechnology.

Overall, Indonesia’s total 2024/25 coffee production rose by approximately 2.4 million bags from the previous year. However, post revised down this 2024/25 production estimate 8 percent from the previous report’s estimate to 10 million bags as robusta crop recovery from severe weather impacts in 2023/24 underperformed expectations.

FAS Mumbai forecasts MY 2024/25 Indian raw cotton exports at 1.2 million 480 lb. bales, 55 percent lower than previous estimate, due to India lint prices trading four percent higher than global prices, prompting buyers to prefer finer quality machine-picked cotton from foreign origins.

Kazakhstan has not announced any changes to its biotechnology policies. Major challenges like climate change, variable weather, monocropping wheat, and the reliance on Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member biotechnology regulations could be a future catalyst for Kazakhstan to develop its own biotechnology law.

Romania, a member of the European Union (EU), observes the EU standards and regulations regarding biotechnology. Most farmers view biotechnology as an instrument in managing the agronomic risks and sustaining their competitiveness.

The signature campaign promise of the newly sworn-in Prabowo administration, the Free Nutritious Meals Program, will be a large driver of increased demand over the next five years as the program aims to provide milk to over 82 million beneficiaries daily by 2029.

As FAS Jakarta previously reported, the Government of Indonesia granted an extension until, “no later than October 17, 2026” for imported food and beverage products to come into compliance with Indonesia’s mandatory halal certification requirements.

On September 25, 2024, India’s Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) released final production estimates of major crops for Indian crop year (ICY) 2023/2024 (July-June). MoAFW estimated grain production at a record 332.3 million metric tons (MMT) due to record production of rice and wheat.