3 percent decline in export of agricultural products in the first quarter

23-Jul-2024 12:54 PM

New Delhi. Government data shows that in the first quarter of the current financial year i.e. April-June 2024, the export of agricultural products from the country fell by about 3 percent to $ 5.88 billion as compared to the same period last year.

The main reason for this is the crisis arising in the Sal Sea region, the fall in the global market price of maize and the ban on the export of rice etc.

Due to the almost stoppage of movement of ships from the Red Sea region, the freight for the export of Indian products has increased as it has to be sent out through a long alternative route. 

Exports of regulated goods falling under the products whose export is operated by the Agricultural and Processed Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), a subordinate body of the Union Ministry of Commerce, declined while exports of non-regulated products registered an increase.

In the first two months of the current financial year i.e. April-May 2024, the export of 23 groups of non-regulated agricultural products increased by 3 percent to $ 3.38 billion, which also included export of Basmati rice,

pulses and fruits and vegetables, but the export of three regulated groups - non-Basmati rice, wheat and milled products - declined by 12 percent to $ 954 million. It is worth noting that the export of wheat and its value-added products,

non-Basmati white rice and 100 percent broken rice has been banned for a long time, but the export of Basmati rice is open.

The export of wheat and white and broken rice is being done in limited quantities only at the government level. In April-May 2024,

the export of Basmati rice increased by 13 percent to $ 1.03 billion, but the export of non-Basmati rice declined by 13 percent to $ 918.83 million.