Exports of key agricultural products see negative trend
Exports of agricultural products from India saw a sharp decline in December with 5 of the 11 key items from the sector registering a negative growth of up to 83%, mainly due to the ongoing demand slump and price erosion in the global market. The export of oil meals witnessed the maximum 82.93% fall in December last year, reducing to just $36.67 million as compared to the shipment value of $214.91million in December 2014, the latest government data said. While rice exports fell by more than 35.58%, items included under the category of other cereals dipped by more than 66%. Similarly, cashew which used to be the hallmark of Indian agri exports declined by 15.38%, and oil seeds exports fell by around 32%. In December 2015, India’s overall exports saw a decline of 14.75% and the cumulative value of exports During April-December period reduced to $196.60 billion, down 18.06% from the level of $239.92 billion recorded during the same period a year ago. Though the rate of decline was lower in December as compared to the previous month’s rate of 24.43%, the country’s outbound shipment has been witnessing the downfall for the past more than a year. “The trend of falling exports is in tandem with other major world economies,” Commerce Ministry had said. According to the government data, exports of 15 out of 30 key product categories kept under constant watch have recorded negative growth in December. Agricultural exports constitute around 10% of India’s merchandise exports. Other major export product categories like petroleum, engineering goods and man-made yarns/ fabric also went down sharply in December, registering year-on-year fall of 47.69%, 15.68% and 22.08% respectively. The continuous fall has widened the country’s trade deficit which stood at $111.68 billion during April-December 2015-16 periods. Although, India aims to increase its exports to $900 billion, the outbound shipment during the current financial year is expected to touch only $270 billion, much lower than $310 billion recorded in the previous year.
January 25, 2016 | 04:00pm IST
to success.