Noting a 9% year-on-year (YoY) fall in agriculture exports from April to December 2023, the Commerce Ministry has largely attributed the decline to conscious decisions to clamp down on exports of essential commodities to maintain ample domestic availability.
The ministry pointed out that agriculture exports during this period have grown by 8% if commodities like wheat, non-basmati rice, broken rice and sugar are excluded. The government has said basmati rice exports to the European Union (EU) and Egypt have been impacted due to the Red Sea conflict, but there hasn't been any adverse impact noted on exports to West Asia.
At a disaggregated level of principal commodities, the exports of basmati rice have increased 19% in value terms, from 3.33 billion in the period between April and December 2022 to 3.97 billion in the period between April and December 2023. In quantity terms, the exports have increased 11% YoY, from 31.98 lakh MT in the period between April and December 2022 to 35.43 lakh MT in the period from April to December 2023.
While the number of export destinations has increased to 149 from 140 in the previous fiscal, the top 5 destinations are Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, USA and the UAE. In the non-basmati rice category, the export value of parboiled rice rose from $1.87 billion to $2.05 billion, indicating a 9.36% YoY increase from April to November 2023. However, the quantity of exports decreased 4.70% YoY to 50.67 lakh metric tonnes during this period.
To boost the volume of exports of agricultural products and ensure remunerative prices for farmers, the government is looking to diversify India's export basket as well as penetrate new markets where India's current market share is low, like 0.35% each in Europe and Latin America. In January 2024, India exported bananas to Russia for the first time, and views the country as a potential export destination for the fruit amidst rising tensions between banana exporter Ecuador and Russia.
The Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has identified over 20 high-potential products with significant export opportunities, which include alcoholic beverages, jaggery and confectionary, cereal preparations (sweet biscuits, papad, dried pasta), bananas, mangoes, pomegranates, grapes, watermelons, green chillies, capsicum, potatoes, okra, natural honey and ghee.
While APEDA is collaborating with global supermarket chains like Lulu and Al Maya to execute comprehensive in-store promotion programs for its agricultural products, it is also engaged in facilitating market access in various countries.
(Edited by : Keshav Singh Chundawat)
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