Brazil has overtaken India as the top supplier of corn (maize) to Bangladesh, marking a significant shift in South Asia’s feed grain trade.

For years, India dominated this corridor, leveraging price competitiveness, proximity and faster delivery cycles to meet Bangladesh’s growing demand. That edge has eroded since 2024, as rising domestic use of maize for ethanol production squeezed exportable surplus.

The resulting supply gap has opened the door for Brazil, which has rapidly scaled up shipments to capture market share in Bangladesh, reshaping a route once firmly in India’s control.

Rising demand

According to the latest USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report, Brazil accounted for 78 per cent of Bangladesh’s total corn imports till February in the 2025-26 marketing year, emerging as the dominant supplier. India and the US held 11 per cent each during this period. Bangladesh imported nearly 1.5 million tonnes (mt) of corn over these months.

For MY 2025-26, the Post pegged Bangladesh’s corn imports at 1.8 mt, driven by rising demand from an expanding feed industry and softer global prices. This is 27.2 per cent higher than the previous year, with consumption increasing across poultry, dairy and aquaculture sectors, where corn is a key feed ingredient.

Bangladesh, which accounted for around half of India’s maize exports in calendar 2022, has sharply reduced its share during 2023-25 amid higher Indian prices and growing domestic demand linked to ethanol blending and the feed sector.

India exported over 3.55 mt of maize in calendar 2022, of which Bangladesh accounted for an estimated 1.82 mt. In 2023, shipments to Bangladesh dropped to over 0.55 mt out of total exports of 2.33 mt. By 2024, exports to Bangladesh fell to just 16,266 tonnes, within total shipments of 0.50 mt. In 2025, volumes declined further to 11,991 tonnes out of 0.44 mt.

Higher prices

Trade sources said Indian maize lost competitiveness in global markets due to elevated domestic prices, leading to a sharp slowdown in exports to Bangladesh.

However, exports to Bangladesh have picked up recently as domestic prices eased and export parity improved, said Rahul Chauhan. Shipments to other destinations such as Nepal and Vietnam have also gained traction, with Vietnam emerging as a relatively new buyer.

The Post report also noted that US corn made a return to the Bangladesh market in MY 2025/26 after a gap since 2018, with exports estimated at around 160,000 tonnes.

Published on April 23, 2026