Industry stakeholders said that trade volumes to Saudi Arabia have historically been minimal, with Indian shipments largely directed to other markets in the region.
Saudi Arabia’s ban on poultry imports will not have any material impact on India’s poultry sector, as the West Asian nation accounts for only a negligible share.
Saudi Arabia’s food safety regulator had recently banned imports of poultry meat and table eggs from 40 countries, including India, as a precaution against bird flu and other animal diseases.
Industry stakeholders said that trade volumes to Saudi Arabia have historically been minimal, with Indian shipments largely directed to other markets in the region. Consequently, the restriction is not expected to disrupt domestic production, pricing, or export realisations in any meaningful way.
“There will not be any impact of the Saudi ban on Indian poultry sector. Saudi is not importing from us,” said Valsan Parameswaran, Secretary, All India Poultry Product Exporters Association.
As per the DGCIS data, India’s poultry exports to Saudi Arabia during 2024-25 stood at 79.74 tonnes valued at $0.10 million, accounting for a fraction of the overall poultry exports. India’s overall poultry exports during financial year 2024-25 were over 10.34 lakh tonnes valued at $168.77 million.
Small share
India exports around 10 million eggs to West Asian countries daily largely from Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. “Our markets are mainly Oman, Turkey, the UAE and Qatar,” Parameswaran said. The exports constitute a very small share in overall poultry meat and egg productions in the country.
“This restriction on imports of poultry products by Saudi Arabia would not impact the Indian poultry sector as shipments to Saudi Arabia are limited as well as local demand and consumption are rising steadily,” says Ricky Thaper, Joint Secretary, Poultry Federation of India.
Thaper stated that the Indian poultry industry is currently valued at $30 billion and employs 6 million people directly or indirectly. The broiler (meat purpose) bird population is 5.5 billion annually and the layer (for eggs) population is 350 millions. In addition, there are 40 million backyard birds.
India is the world’s largest producer of eggs with annual production of 142.6 billion eggs.
Published on February 27, 2026
