PUNE: India's agriculture exports declined by almost 6 per cent from $10.81 billion during April to November 2015-16 to $ 10.20 billion for the same period this fiscal, according to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority data.
Experts cited demonetisation, along with high Indian export prices and Government's removal of export incentives, as some of the major causes for the dip.
Export of 16 key agricultural products from the Country — including fresh vegetables and seeds, pulses, wheat, milled products, Basmati rice, cereals — registered negative growth between April to November 2016-17. This is the second fiscal of de-growth in agri exports for India. India's farm exports, which were growing consistently during past years, have been witnessing a fall since 2015-16.
In terms of US dollars, exports of pulses, guargum, milled products and basmati rice during this period declined by 13.05 per cent, 26.37%, 32.00% and 16.33% respectively, as per official data.
The decline in wheat exports was 65.68%, while that in other cereals was 28.93%. As many as 16 main agriculture products were in the negative zone, the data showed.
The Country's overall exports declined from $14.49 billion in April to November 2014-15 to $10.81 billion in April to November 2015-16 and finally to $10.20 billion in April to November 2016-17. Exports of agri products fell by a significant 19.26% in the entire fiscal 2015-16 in comparison to 2014-15.
Sources from Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said, "Several countries have raised their standards of the quality they expect from export products, which small-time exporters cannot meet. Apart from that, demonetisation affected exports in November and December last year, when issues cropped up in several labour-intensive segments, which depend heavily on enough cash flow to get work done."
Source: Dailyshippingtimes.com
