India assures UNFAO for an undisrupted supply of agricultural commodities as it sees a surge of 23% in agricultural exports. Rice, Sugar, and Pulses lead India’s agricultural exports.
Increase in India’s Agricultural Exports
While several countries witnessed disruption in trade, India’s agricultural exports increased 23.24% to Rs 25,553 crore during March-June this year, 4,818.2 crores more than the previous year. Also, India’s agrarian GDP has registered an increase of 0.5% from 2017-18 to 2018-19. Data released by WTO reveals that India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 stood at 2.27% and 1.90%, respectively.
While basmati rice worth Rs 8,591 crore tops the list of farm exports, non-basmati rice contributed the highest rise of Rs 2,392 crore to the Agri exports. Non-basmati rice and sugar together account for more than a 95% increase in the Agri commodities export.
India has Enough Stocks to Meet Global Demand
Agriculture commissioner S K Malhotra, in FAO’s 35th Asia-Pacific regional Conference, assured that India has enough stock not only for domestic needs but also for global supply. Further, he added that the government is focusing on penetrating wellness food under the “Brand India” campaign into foreign markets. Agriculture ministry officials stated that India’s agricultural export basket has a limited scope. Though India’s rice is demanded globally, wheat is still not competitive at the international level. Besides, India produces pulses to meet domestic requirements.
Prompt Action Amid the Pandemic Ensured Timely Procurement and Eliminated Wastage
Experts attribute this surge to the abundant availability of stocks of rice, sugar, and wheat. Besides, India has also been quick in providing support to farmers during harvesting season amid the pandemic. Moreover, India has also gained from the rise in Thai and Vietnamese rice prices owing to poor weather conditions. Besides, the depreciation of Indian rupee against the dollar facilitated exporters to quote lower prices. Not only has this but carryover stocks of sugar also facilitated more significant shipments to Indonesia and Brazil. The country had also supplied its excess wheat stocks to Lebanon and Afghanistan. Shipments to the African region, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Russia have increased this year.
In all, India has the prospects of gaining immensely due to the mentioned reasons. It will need to continue providing quality products in the international market to sustain the rise in agricultural exports.