Farm exports flat in FY24 as rice shipments plunge
By Sandip Das
India’s exports of agricultural and processed food products fell marginally – 0.55% on year – to $ 24.02 billion during 2023-24, primarily because rice shipments plunged amid restrictions.
However, in an year when overall goods exports of the country declined 3.1% on year, shipment of meat & dairy products and fruits & vegetables witnessed double-digit growth rates.
According to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, rice exports in the last fiscal dropped 6.5% to $10.4 billion on year because of the ban on white and broken rice exports, shipment duties on parboiled rice and the ban on wheat exports imposed in May last year.
Sources said that decline in the value of rice exports is attributed to decline in shipment of non-basmati rice due to several restrictions such as ban on white rice shipment and 20% export duty on part-boiled rice exports imposed last year.
However, livestock products – buffalo meat, dairy and poultry, a key item in the APEDA basket rose by close to 12% last fiscal to $ 4.5 billion compared to FY23.
The exports of fresh fruits and vegetables rose by 14% in FY24 to $3.65 billion on year. The shipment of cereals preparations and processed items, rose by 9% to 2.8 billion last fiscal on year.
Oil meals shipments in the current fiscal rose by 7% to 1.7 billion last fiscal on year.
The rice exports in the FY23 rose by more than 15% year-on-year to a record $ 11.1 billion from $9.6 billion in FY22. In terms of volume, rice shipment grew by 5% to a record 22.34 million tonne (MT) last fiscal. In the current fiscal, rice shipment is likely to be around 17 MT.
Meanwhile, to boost exports of Geographical Indication (GI) tagged rice varieties such as Gobindobhog, Red rice, Black rice and Kalanamak rice, the government is discussing with the stakeholders to allocates separate numbers for harmonized system (HS) codes, a numerical classification used in global trade.
The aim is to ensure that in case of a ban or restriction on exports of broken or white rice, such unique varieties are exported unhindered. Currently there are six HS codes for non-basmati rice and one for the basmati rice. The cashew exports in FY24 declined by 4.8% to 0.33 billion.
The exports of products under the APEDA basket grew by 9% to $24.1 billion in 2022-23 compared to FY22, due to a spike in shipment of rice, fruits and vegetables, livestock and dairy products.
The share of exports of products under the APEDA basket is around 51% in the total shipment of agri-produce. Rest of the agricultural products exports include marine, tobacco, coffee and tea.
This article has been republished from The Financial Express.