February 24, 2022
During 2018-19, India had introduced a policy in order to achieve the objective of US$60 billion of agriculture exports by the year 2022.
Non-basmati rice has seen a huge surge in it’s exports during April to December, going up by 46% to US$4.48 billion.
By March 2022, if exports reach US$50 billion, It would indicate that India might have fallen short of the target, however, it is a huge achievement considering that the exports in this sector have usually been underperforming in other sectors.
Overall exports accounts for over 2% of the total world farm trade, estimated at US$1.37 trillion.
Agriculture exports in the country have grown enormously in the first nine months of the current financial year and are set to reach US$ 50 billion in the current financial year.
A 20% growth has been achieved in agricultural activities during the first nine months of FY 21-22. Crop plantation exports rose by 19% to US$1.2 billion along with marine exports growing to 35% to US$6.18 billion. During FY21, India’s agriculture exports amounted to US$ 40 billion. The previous best in the exports sector was US$46 billion a few years ago.
During 2018-19, India had introduced a policy in order to achieve the objective of US$60 billion of agriculture exports by the year 2022. If exports reach $50 billion by March 2022, it would mean that though India might have fallen short of the target, However, it is a huge achievement considering that the exports in the sector have usually been underperforming in other sectors.
The bump in exports, a trend that was started during FY21 despite the impact due to the first wave of covid-19, have also continued in the current financial year. The surge has been largely driven by cereals (non basmati rice and wheat) marine products, spices and sugar. Basmati rice exports in FY22 till December 2021 were estimated to be about $2.38 billion, down almost 19 per cent from the previous year.
Leading the cereals exports
Non-basmati rice has seen a huge surge in it’s exports during April to December, it went up to US$4.48 billion to 46%, coffee exports were up by 43% to US$0.70 billion, wheat exports rose by 41% to US$1.43 billion, sugar exports went up by 61.33% and marine products went up by 35%.
Aiming higher
India being the top-most agricultural market in the world, the overall exports accounts for over 2% of the total world farm trade, estimated at US$1.37 trillion. With the introduction of the policy during FY18-19, the government had to set a list of essential agro-commodities. As per the policy, the commodities listed would face restrictions in the form of a minimum export price, export duty or revoked bans. With this, the government had a total estimate of Rs. 1400 crore for agricultural exports by putting together various schemes and incentives.