The global demand slump has started impacting India’s farm exports too. Shipments of agricultural items and processed foods, which had remained resilient last fiscal even amid a slowdown in the country’s overall merchandise exports, by 14.7% on year to $ 6.23 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
Cereals exports in the April-June (2023-24) dropped sharply by 25% to $ 3.07 billion on year because of the ban on wheat exports imposed in May last year.
In the first quarter of FY23, wheat exports were valued at $ 1.07 billion and a ban on shipment of wheat was imposed in May 17,2022 to address domestic shortfall in production which had led to rise in prices.
According to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, while Basmati rice exports grew by 12.17% in first quarter of FY24 to $ 1.2 billion, non-basmati rice shipment declined marginally by 2.7% to $ 1.53 billion this fiscal compared to previous year.
Officials said non-Basmati rice exports are likely to decline in the next quarters as the government had banned shipment of white rice last month.
Livestock products – meat, dairy and poultry, a key item in the agricultural and processed food products exports development authority (APEDA) basket declined by 9.8% on year first quarter of this fiscal to $ 1.01 billion compared to previous fiscal. Other processed foods including groundnut and guargum shipment fell marginally to $ 1.01 billion in FY24, compared to same period in the previous fiscal
However, the exports of fresh fruits and vegetables have risen by 16% in the first quarter of FY24 to 0.47 billion on year.
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 rice exports in the last fiscal rose by more than 15% year-on-year to a record $ 11.1 billion from $9.6 billion in FY22. In terms of volume, rice shipment grew by 5% to 22.34 million tonne (MT) last fiscal year-on-year.
Officials had attributed the spike in rice exports to factors such as robust global demand especially from middle-east countries, Africa and Europe and floods in Pakistan, a major grain exporter which had hugely impacted a large chunk of paddy crop.
India has been the world’s largest exporter of rice in the last decade and currently has 45% share in global grain trade. However its share is likely to fall this fiscal with the government restricting white rice shipment.
Exports of products under APEDA basket was $ 25.6 billion in 2021-22, which was around 51% of the country’s total agricultural goods exports of more than $ 50 billion.
Rest of agricultural products exports include marine, tobacco, coffee, tea and cashew.