Agri exports

Agri exports

Subject :Economy

Context:

India’s agriculture exports are growing, and could hit a new high this fiscal.

Details:

• India’s agriculture exports have grown 16.5% year-on-year in April-September 2022-23 and are set to surpass the record $50.2 billion achieved in 2021-22 (April-March).
• Interestingly, even commodities whose exports have been subjected to curbs — wheat, rice and sugar — have shown impressive rise.
• The impressive growth in exports is however offset by imports and the resultant surplus of $17.8 billion was much below the $27.7 billion surplus in the previous all-time-high export year of 2013-14.
• Important data for Ap-Sept (2022-23):
  • India has turned into a net cotton importer.
  • In traditional plantation spices such as pepper and cardamom, the country has become as much an importer as an exporter.
  • Another traditional export item where India has largely turned an importer is cashew.
  • Almost 60% of India’s total agri imports is accounted for by a single commodity: vegetable oils.
  • Vegetable oils are today the country’s fifth biggest import item after petroleum, electronics, gold, and coal.

India’s agricultural trade (april-sept 2022-23):

Concept:

• Traditionally, Basmati rice is one of the top export commodities. However, now there is an unusual spike in the export of non-basmati rice.
• Indian buffalo meat is seeing a strong demand in international markets due to its lead character and near organic nature. The export potential of buffalo meat is tremendous, especially in countries like Vietnam, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries shows that the contribution of agricultural and processed food products in India’s total exports is 11%.
• Agri export Initiatives:
  • Agriculture and processed food production export Development Authority (APEDA) is an apex body that promotes export trade of agricultural products in India.  Set-up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry under APEDA Act 1985.
  • APEDA is mandated with the responsibility of export promotion and development of the scheduled agricultural products. Some of the initiatives of APEDA:
    • Hortinet: An integrated traceability system covering 40-plus vegetables. It provides Internet based electronic services to the stakeholders for facilitating farm registration, testing and certification of Grape, Pomegranate and Vegetables for export from India to the European Union in compliance with standards.
    • A traceability System for Basmati rice (a registered GI product)
    • Grapenet – a web based certification and traceability software system for monitoring fresh grapes exported from India to the European Union.
    • FarmerConnect portal to help farmer producers’ organisations, cooperatives and exporters. This helps them to create profiles and post their sale offers on the web platform. Exporters can also post their enquiries or needs, and view matching sale offers.
    • Virtual Trade Fair –A meeting place for exhibitors, visitors, exporters and industry to exchange information on new products and establish new partnerships.
    • SaaS model: Hybrid solution combining its traditional web-based SaaS model for its stakeholders, augmented by an authentic, private Blockchain layer for further data security and authentication.
  • Other Agencies-Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Tobacco Board, Tea Board, Coffee Board, Rubber Board and Spices Board to boost the exports of agricultural produce.
  • Agriculture Export Policy in 2018-Agriculture Export Policy, 2018 was launched to double the agri exports from present $ 30 bn to $ 60 bn by 2022 and $ 100 bn thereafter, and integrate the farmers with global chains.
  • Transport and Marketing Assistance for Specified Agriculture Products– The scheme aims for assisting the international component of freight handling and marketing of agricultural products.
  • 100% FDI is allowed in some activities of agriculture through the automatic route.