Exports of Agricultural Products Increased by 19% in April-February of FY21

Given the outbreak of Covid-19 and a general drop in exports, Country's agriculture and allied commodity exports grew significantly in FY21, with strong shipments of non-basmati rice, wheat, soyameal, spices, sugar, cotton, fresh and processed vegetables, and alcoholic beverages.

According to data from the April-February period of the previous fiscal, India's agricultural foreign trade surplus rose by 41% year on year to Rs 1,32,580 crore. Agriculture and related goods worth Rs 2.74 lakh crore were exported in the first 11 months of last fiscal year, up 18.6 percent from Rs 2.31 lakh crore the year before, while imports rose slightly by 3% to Rs 1.41 lakh crore.

Over the years, India has continuously held a trade surplus in agricultural goods. Agricultural and related exports totaled Rs 2.52 lakh crore, while imports totaled Rs 1.47 lakh crore in FY20.

“Even during the challenging pandemic era, India took care not to disrupt the global food supply chain and continued to export,” said an agriculture ministry official. Wheat, non-basmati rice, soyameal, spices, sugar, cotton, fresh vegetables, refined vegetables, and alcoholic drinks are among the goods that have seen major increases in exports, according to the official.

Other cereals (excluding basmati rice) exports increased from Rs 1,318 crore to Rs 4,542 crore, while wheat exports increased from Rs 425 crore to Rs 3,283 crore. Under a government-to-government agreement, agri cooperative Nafed has exported 50,000 tonne of wheat to Afghanistan and 40,000 tonne to Lebanon in response to particular requests from countries.

Following entry into new markets such as Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico, non-basmati rice exports increased from Rs 13,030 crore to Rs 30,277 crore. Togo, Senegal, Malaysia, Madagascar, Iraq, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Vietnam, Tanzania Republic, and Madagascar were among the countries that received exports.

Soyameal exports have increased significantly, from Rs 3,087 crore to Rs 7,224 crore. Spice exporters increased by 11% to Rs 26,257 crore from Rs 23,562 crore, sugar exporters increased by 40% to Rs 17,072 crore from Rs 12,226 crore, and raw cotton exporters increased by 68 percent to Rs 11,373 crore from Rs 6,771 crore.

India's agricultural and allied exports increased at a CAGR of 3.7 percent in dollar terms between 2015-16 and 2019-20, according to data compiled by economist Debesh Roy. From 2010-11 to 2014-15, the CAGR was 11.5 percent. The Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) of 2018 has set an ambitious export target of $60 billion by 2022 and $100 billion within a few years, and if these goals are met, the difficult job of doubling farmers' income would be much easier.