Commerce Ministry working on export strategy for agricultural products

NEW DELHI: Concerned over declining exports, the Commerce Ministry is preparing a strategy paper to boost overseas shipments of agricultural products, particularly the value-added goods.

Exports of six key agricultural products, including tea, spices and tobacco, have registered negative growth in 2014-15, mainly due to declining competitiveness of Indian products in the international market in terms of prices and variety of goods.

"We are working on an agri export strategy. There is a need to boost exports of processed products and value-added goods in agri sector. The country is not able to exploit the sector's potential," a senior Commerce Ministry official said.

The official said that so far Indian exporters are putting focus on export of processed and value-added goods in the agriculture sector and due to this they are not able to tap more and more markets.

"We are trying to get more markets for our agri exports. The whole aim is to get into the second line of agri exports that is processed goods, branding and packaging," the official added.

Contraction in exports of agri commodities was one of the reasons for decline in the country's total exports in 2014-15.

During 2014-15, exports of tea, spices and tobacco declined by about 16 per cent, 1 per cent and 5.2 per cent, respectively, according to the Commerce Ministry data.

Other products which have reported negative growth Include cereals (27.33 per cent), oil meals (52.73 per cent), fruits and vegetables (8.85 per cent).

India's exports dipped deeper into the negative zone, recording a decline of 21 per cent in March, the biggest fall in last six years, pulling down total shipments for 2014-15 to $310.5 billion, missing the $340 billion target.

In May 2015, India's merchandise shipments dipped by 20.19 per cent in May to $22.34 billion.

During the last four financial years, India's exports are hovering at around $300 billion.