Agri, processed food exports jump 14% to $5,987 mn in Q1

NEW DELHI: Continuing with the trend from the previous year, the exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 14 per cent in June quarter of FY23 compared to the corresponding period of FY 2021-22.

For the year 2022-23, the government had set an export target of $23.56 billion for the agricultural and processed food products basket under APEDA.

The initiatives taken by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry have helped the country in achieving 25 per cent of the total annual export target in the first three months of the current fiscal.

According to the Quick Estimates data released by the Directorate General of Commercial

Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), the overall export of products under APEDA ambit (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) increased to $5,987 million in April-June 2022 from $5,256 million over the same period of the last fiscal.

The export target for AprilJune 2022-23 was $5,890 million. The APEDA basket excludes Tea, coffee, spices, cotton and marine exports.

The exports of fresh fruits & vegetables registered 8.6 per cent growth, while processed food products like cereals and miscellaneous processed items reported an impressive growth of 36.4 per cent (April-June 2022-23) compared to corresponding months of the previous year.

In April-June, 2021, fresh fruits and vegetables were exported to the tune of $642 million that increased to $697 million in the corresponding months of the current fiscal.

Other cereals’ export increased from $237 million in April-June 2021to $306 million in April-June 2022 and the export of meat, dairy and poultry products increased from $1,023 million in April-June 2021 to $1120 million in AprilJune 2022.

Rice exports witnessed a growth of 13 per cent in the first three months of FY 2022-23, while the export of meat, dairy & poultry products increased by 9.5 per cent and export of other cereals increased by 29 per cent.

The export of rice increased from $2,412 million in AprilJune 2021 to $2,723 million in April-June 2022. The dairy products were exported to the tune of $1,120 million in the first three months of the current fiscal from million in the same period last year.

“We continue to provide technical and financial assistance to various stakeholders in the agricultural goods value chains for boosting exports of unique products from the country. Through creating a necessary eco-system of exports along with collaboration with key stakeholders in the agri-exports value chains, we are aiming to sustain the growth in India’s agricultural and processed food exports in the current fiscal as well,” M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA, said.

India’s agricultural products exports had grown by 19.92 per cent during 2021-22 to touch $50.21 billion.