NEW DELHI: The fall in global commodity prices and sluggish global demand have resulted in a sharp fall in India’s
agricultural and processed food exports in the first two quarters of the current fiscal.
The export of agricultural produce and processed foods, which had seen a phenomenal rise for a few years to FY14, shrank by
more than 20% during April-September, 2015 in comparison with same period last fiscal.
The exports have declined to Rs 51,788 crore in April-September, 2015 from Rs 65,350 crore achieved in the same period last
fiscal. “In many of the commodities, including basmati and non-basmati rice, while the volume of exports have increased
during the first two quarters of the current fiscal, the realisation has decline sharply,” a Commerce Ministry official
said. The official said that the decline in agricultural commodities shipments also reflect an overall decline in the
exports of other commodities.
The realisation from the shipments of key agricultural commodities - basmati rice (-11%), non-basmati rice (-11%), buffalo
meat (-9.7%) and Guar gum (-62%) - have declined in the half of the current fiscal in comparison with the same period last
fiscal.
According to the Ministry official, average realisation from basmati rice exports has fallen from $1,295 per tonne in FY14
to around $950 a tonne in the current fiscal. Even in the case of non-basmati rice, the realisation has declined by more
than 11% to Rs. 8054 crore in the April–September, 2015 period compared with same period last fiscal.
Overall, rice exports from the Country declined by more than 11% to Rs 20,363 crore in April-September this year, while the
volume of grain shipment has seen a sharp increase by more than 51% to 5.5 million tonne. The realisation from Guar gum,
mostly used in US- based oil exploration companies, has shrunk by more than 62% to Rs 1,861 crore in the first half of the
current fiscal.
Meanwhile, the agricultural and processed food exports development authority (Apeda) has identified 20-odd clusters located
across the Country for sustaining growth in the exports of food products. These clusters include those for basmati (Haryana
and Punjab), buffalo meat (western Uttar Pradesh), grape and wine (Nashik region, Maharashtra), pomegranate (Satara and
Pune regions of Maharashtra), dehydrated onions and garlic (Gujarat), poultry or egg (Namakkal, Tamil Nadu) and mango pulp
(Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra).
Source: dailyshippingtimes.com
