The government is working on a strategy to boost the export of 20 ‘high potential’ agricultural products including basmati rice, alcoholic beverages, honey, mango, and banana.
An action regarding the same will be ready over the next three months and towards this, the Department of Commerce as well as the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has started discussions with all the stakeholders including states, additional secretary at the Department of Commerce, Rajesh Agarwal said. At present, India’s share is low in global exports.
Firming up such a plan will be crucial because India’s overall agriculture exports witnessed a contraction over the last year due to export restrictions on essential commodities such as rice, wheat, sugar, and onion.
That apart, agricultural commodities have been facing the brunt of external factors such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the Red Sea crisis, although any major impact of the Israel-Iran conflict is yet to be seen.
India’s share is about 2.5 per cent in global exports, and the government wants to increase it to about 4-5 per cent over the next few years.
The worldwide imports of the 20 commodities were $405.24 billion in 2022, while India’s exports of these items were $9.03 billion. Countries that hold huge export potential for these items include the United States, Malaysia, Canada, Russia, Germany, France, Korea, China, Indonesia, Japan, Italy, Belgium, and the UK.
India’s agriculture exports contracted 8.8 per cent to $43.7 billion during April-February (2023-24) mainly due to external factors such as the Red Sea crisis, the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as domestic restrictions imposed on critical items like rice, wheat, sugar, and onion.
The export ban and restrictions on commodities like rice, wheat, sugar, and onion hit agri exports of about $5-6 billion in the last fiscal.
The exports of basmati rice increased from $4.2 billion in April-February 2022-23 to $5.2 billion in April-February 2023-24, up 22 per cent on-year.
