India’s agricultural and processed food products exports up by 30 percent to USD 9598 Million in first four months of current fiscal (2022-23) compared to the same period.

The Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) today released provisional data stating that the overall export of agricultural and processed food products increased to USD 9598 million in April-July 2022 from USD 7397 million over the same period of the last fiscal. The exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 30 percent in the first four months of the current Financial Year 2022-23 (April-July) in comparison to the corresponding period of FY 2021-22.

For the year 2022-23, an export target of USD 23.56 billion has been fixed for the agricultural and processed food products basket. It may be noted that an export of USD 9.59 billion has already been achieved in the first four months of the current fiscal. The initiatives taken by the Government have helped in achieving 40 percent of the total export target for the year 2022-23 in the first four months of the current fiscal.

As per the DGCI&S provisional data, fresh fruits & vegetables registered four percent growth, while processed fruits and vegetables recorded a significant growth of 51 percent (April-July, 2022) in comparison to corresponding months of the previous year. In April-July, 2021, fresh fruits and vegetables were exported to the tune of USD 498 million that increased to USD 517 million in the corresponding months of the current fiscal. Exports of processed fruits & vegetables jumped to USD 665 million in four months of the current fiscal from USD 441 million in the corresponding months of the previous year.

The processed food products like cereals and miscellaneous processed items reported a growth of 37.75 percent and 35.26 percent respectively in comparison to the first four months of the previous year.

The export of meat, dairy & poultry products increased by 11.69 percent and the export of other cereals recorded a growth of 22.26 percent in four months of the current fiscal. The dairy products alone recorded a growth of 61.91 percent as its export rose to USD 247 million in the first four months of the current fiscal from USD 153 million in corresponding months of the previous year. The export of livestock products increased from USD 1279 million in April-July 2021 to USD 1428 million in April-July 2022.

As per the DGCI&S data, the country’s agricultural products exports had grown by 19.92 per cent during 2021-22 to touch USD 50.21 billion.

The growth rate is significant as it is over and above the growth of 17.66 per cent at USD 41.87 billion achieved in 2020-21 and has been achieved in spite of unprecedented logistical challenges in the form of high freight rates and container shortages, etc.

In 2021-22, agricultural and processed food products were exported to the tune of USD 25.6 billion, which was around 51 per cent of India's total agricultural goods exports of more than USD 50 billion.

Various initiatives were taken for the export promotion of agricultural and processed food products such as organising Business to Business exhibitions in different countries, exploring new potential markets through product-specific and general marketing campaigns by the active involvement of the Indian Embassies.

Initiatives have also been taken to promote products having registered geographical indications (GI) in India. Some initiatives were like organizing virtual Buyer Seller Meets on agricultural and food products with the United Arab Emirates and on GI products, including handicrafts with the USA.

In an attempt to give a boost to the export of Indian wine, the APEDA facilitated participation of 10 wine exporters in the London Wine Fair held between June 7- 9, 2022. A conference was also organized recently on the boosting export potential of natural, organic and GI-agro Products from the north-eastern states in Guwahati, Assam.

The Government through APEDA has recognized 220 labs across India to provide services of testing to a wide range of products and exporters to ensure a smooth quality certification of the products to be exported.

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