India’s agricultural exports see 121% jump on guargum, rice diet
The country's agricultural and processed food exports saw a huge jump — of 121% — during first two quarters of the current fiscal to R63,000 crore in comparison to Rs 28,500 crore during same period last year.
The country's agricultural and processed food exports saw a huge jump — of 121% — during first two quarters of the current fiscal to R63,000 crore in comparison to Rs 28,500 crore during same period last year. The jump is mainly attributed to the surge in shipment of Guargum (488%) and non-Basmati rice (993%) in the first half of 2012-13.
According to the latest data released by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Guargum exports stood at Rs 21,536 crore, which is around 45% of the total agricultural exports.
The rise in Guargum exports this fiscal was more than 488% in comparison to the same period last year.
The global demand for Guargum — an extract from Guar seed used as sealant in oil and natural gas drilling — had been on the surge during last one and half years due to soaring crude prices.
“If the growth in export trend continues, we will cross the R1-lakh crore export mark by the end of the current fiscal,” Asit Tripathy, chairman, APEDA told FE.
Another key commodity that pushed up agricultural exports was non-Basmati rice. The total exports of non-Basmati rice during the April – September period this year was around R6285 crore, a jump of more than 993% from the previous year. India lifted a ban on non-Basmati in September last year after a three-year restriction.
The exports of India's flagship agri-product basmati rice grew marginally by 4.5% to R9,054 crore during first two quarters of current fiscal. The exports jump is mainly because of rising demand for aromatic long grain rice in Gulf countries, European Union and United States. Iran and Saudi Arabia constitute more than half of basmati exports.
Cumulative rice exports were at R15,339 crore during the April-September period. Another key commodity that saw a significant jump in export growth was wheat. India exported R3619 crore worth of wheat in this fiscal till now, which is a huge jump from last year's marginal exports worth of R33 crore.
Other key commodities that saw growth in shipments include meat products (R7595 crore), dairy products (R523 crore), groundnut
Indias agricultural exports see 121% jump on guargum, rice diet
India is capable of feeding its people, India is a food surplus country and we are also leading exporters in Agriculture sector