"We have requested the agriculture ministry to allow us to directly import maize to meet the industry's requirements," SN Dua, IMDA president and executive director, Bharat Starch and Chemicals which uses maize as its basic raw material told PTI here on Thursday.

At present, maize imports are allowed only under actual user condition for the poultry sector.

Maize prices have shot up to Rs 620 per quintal as compared to Rs 470 per quintal last year, he said and added that about 50,000 tonnes are immediately required by industry.

Landed cost of maize imports would be around Rs 525 per quintal, much lower than domestic prices according to information collected by the IMDA.

Although channelising agents like National Agricultural and Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) usually handles any exports or imports,the IMDA wants the government to allow the industry to import according to their requirements, as it would otherwise push up the price by about 15 per cent.

The association has also suggested that a buffer stock for maize should be maintained by the government to tide over any sudden fluctuations in production.

"The absence of any buffer stocks to meet the sudden fall has resulted in demand outstripping supply as this is the main season for maize procurement by corn milling and distillery sector," Dua said.

Unprecedented floods in northern India during august this year have destroyed about 30 per cent of the crop, with Uttar Pradesh alone reporting a loss of 50 per cent of its kharif produce, he added.

The total industrial demand is five lakh tonnes of which Uttar Pradesh alone contributes nearly two million tonnes, the IMDA president said adding that maize production in the country had fallen by 15 to 20 per cent this year.

"This year's harvest is expected to touch only eight to nine milliontonnes compared to last year's total of 11 million tonnes," Dua said.

With support prices for maize not showing much increase, farmers in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have been gradually shifting to more remunerative crops like soyabean.

Maize production in Karnataka, which has the highest productivity of 2.8 million tonnes per hectare against the all-India yield of 1.5 million tonnes per hectare, is expected to fall by 30 per cent this year, he said.

Although maize has more than 300 end uses ranging from pharmaceuticals to food-processing and paper, it has not been able to receive the same kind of attention as other cash crops, Dua added.