NEW DELHI: Several restrictions imposed on rice exports to improve domestic supplies have adversely impacted India’s farm exports in the first eight months of current fiscal. However, shipments of Basmati rice (18%), buffalo meat (13%) and fresh fruits and vegetables (20%) have grown significantly even amid the general slump in shipments.
Exports of agricultural items and processed foods, which had remained resilient in the last few fiscal years, dropped by 10% to $ 15.72 billion during the April-November period of the current fiscal on year.
The value of cereals exports in the first eight months of 2023-24 dropped sharply by 8% to $ 6.44 billion on year because of the ban on white and broken rice exports, shipment duties on parboiled rice and the ban on wheat exports imposed in May last year.
According to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, while Basmati rice exports grew by 18% in April-November of FY24 to $ 3.37 billion, non-basmati rice shipment declined sharply by 25% to $ 3.07 billion this fiscal compared to previous year.
In terms of volume, rice exports dropped by 25% to 10.68 million tonne (MT) in April – November period of the current fiscal mainly due to a 34% fall in the volume of non-Basmati rice shipment to 7.69 MT on year. India has been the largest rice exporter since 2012 and till fiscal had around 40 – 45% share in the global trade.
The shipment of all other major items – buffalo meat, fresh fruits and vegetables and other processed products such as groundnut in the agricultural and processed food products exports development authority (APEDA) basket, rose significantly in the current fiscal.
Buffalo meat exports rose by 13% to $ 2.4 billion in this fiscal compared to the same period last year. The exports of fresh fruits and vegetables have risen by 20% in the first eight months of FY24 to 1.18 billion on year. Groundnut shipment rose by 17% to $ 0.5 billion current fiscal year so far on year.
“We are aiming to expand the market for several agricultural products such as bananas, mangoes, processed fruits and juices, fruits and vegetables seeds and processed vegetables exports,” a commerce ministry official told FE.
The exports of products under the APEDA basket grew by 9% to $26.3 billion in 2022-23 as compared to FY22, due to a spike in shipment of rice, fruits and vegetables, livestock and dairy products.
The exports of products under APEDA basket was around 50% of the country’s total agricultural goods exports of more than $ 53.2 billion last fiscal. Rest of agricultural products exports include marine, tobacco, coffee and tea.
During the August-October period in the current fiscal, the government had imposed a temporary minimum export price (MEP) of $ 1200/tonne on Basmati rice shipment to restrict ‘illegal shipment of white non-basmati rice in the garb of premium basmati rice.’ Subsequently MEP was reduced to $ 950/tonne.
Source: The Financial Express
