India's April-July buffalo meat exports rise: Government body

A box with vacuum-sealed beef meat is pictured at the Biernacki Meat Plant slaughterhouse in Golina near Jarocin, western Poland July 17, 2013. The abattoir in this small town in western Poland has a special dormitory to house the more than 30 Jewish men designated by Israel's chief rabbi to oversee the production of kosher beef there. Poland exports 90 percent of its beef, a third of which was kosher or halal worth some 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion). But this booming industry has ground to a halt because, after a campaign by animal rights activists who say the method of slaughter is cruel, Poland's constitutional court banned the practice and this month its parliament rejected an amendment that would have allowed the slaughter to resume. Picture taken July 17, 2013. Photo: REUTERS.

India's buffalo meat exports between April and July rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier to 384,096 tonnes on robust demand from Indonesia and Malaysia, a government body said on Wednesday.

The country's rice exports during the period edged up 1 percent from a year ago to 4.15 million tonnes on upbeat demand from Senegal, Benin and Iran, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority said.

India is the world's biggest exporter of buffalo meat and rice. The country's exports of pulses more than doubled during the period to 124,465 tonnes, while dairy exports jumped 33 percent to 42,193 tonnes, the agency said.