Agri exports fall 4% in Apr-Aug, on slump in rice trade
By Sandip Das
India’s exports of agricultural and processed food products in the first five months of FY25 declined by 4% to $ 9.69 billion on year primarily because of fall in rice shipments due to restrictions imposed last year.
Of items under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) basket, shipments of meat, dairy and poultry products, fresh fruits and vegetables and cereals preparations saw a spike during April-August, 2024-25 compared to FY24.
According to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, rice exports in the first five months of the current fiscal dropped by 6.64% to $ 4.42 billion on year.
As export growth stagnated and imports jumped, India’s trade surplus in “agriculture and allied products” has been tapering in recent years – in FY24, the surplus was just $15.4 billion, as against $27.2 billion in FY14. The primary driver of the imports are edible oils, but inward shipments of pulses remained high too, even though in a more erratic manner.
The government last year had imposed a ban on white and broken rice exports and 20% shipment duties on parboiled rice to improve domestic supplies. However, the minimum export prices (MEP) of $ 950/tonne on basmati rice exports imposed in October last year was recently removed.
Basmati rice exporters have said that shipment of aromatic and long grain rice is expected to get a boost following abolition of MEP as India was losing the export market to Pakistan as it has lower MEP.
Akshay Gupta, head – bulk exports, KRBL, which exports basmati rice to over 90 countries under ‘India Gate’ brand had said Pakistan basmati exporters were getting undue advantage due to the restrictive policy (higher MEP) but it’s now level playing field for all.
The shipment of meat and dairy products rose by 6.88% on year to a record $1.8 billion during April-August of current fiscal against the value of exports $ 1.69 billion during same period in 2022-23
Officials said that in the last decade, there has been a rise in demand of the Indian bovine meant across the globe due to its quality, nutrient values and risk-free as the buffalo meat is processed and exported as per the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines for any risk mitigation.
The exports of fruits and vegetables in the April-August period of the current fiscal rose by 3.83% to $ 1.4 billion compared to the same period last year. Officials said that there has been rising demand for several agricultural products such as bananas, mangoes, processed fruits and juices, fruits and vegetables seeds and processed vegetables across the world.
Recently, to boost horticultural crops exports to middle-east countries, APEDA has signed a memorandum of understanding with LuLu Group International, which has a network of hypermarkets and retail outlets across the region.
India’s exports of agricultural and processed food products in FY24 declined by 6% to $25.01 billion on year because of a drop in rice exports because of restrictions imposed last year. APEDA has set an export target of $ 28.72 billion for FY25.
The share of exports of products under the APEDA basket is around 51% in the total shipment of agri-produce. Rest of the agricultural products exports include marine, tobacco, coffee and tea.
This article has been republished from The Financial Express.