NEW DELHI : The fall in global commodity prices and sluggish demand have resulted in a sharp decline in India’s agricultural and processed food exports in the first three quarters of the current fiscal. Official sources said that the slowdown in agricultural goods shipments is expected to continue in the last quarter of the year as well.
According to latest data compiled by the Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Development Authority (APEDA), the shipment of agricultural produce and processed foods, which had seen a phenomenal rise for a few years to FY14, shrank by more than 21% during April-December, 2015 in comparison with the same period last fiscal.
However the shipment of fruits and vegetables has witnessed a marginal increase in the current fiscal so far. “We are hoping that Basmati rice exports would pick up pace in the last fiscal and thereafter as Iran has lifted curb on our rice import,” an official told FE.
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 (-14%), non-Basmati rice (-26%), buffalo meat (-10%) and Guargum (-65%) — have declined in the first three quarters of the current fiscal in comparison with the same period last 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
