TLI Staff
New Delhi: Agri and handicraft items recorded sharp jump in exports in the month of December, 2020 but the total value of outbound shipments at $27.1 billion remained almost flat compared to same month the previous year.
As per the official trade data released on Friday, exports in December 2020 were $27.15 billion, as compared to $27.11 billion in December 2019 registering a marginal growth of 0.14%.
The items that recorded positive growth during this period were cereals (278.23%), oil meals (196.92%), Iron ore (69.26%), Cereal preparations & miscellaneous processed items (47.14%), jute including floor covering (21.93%) and handicrafts excluding hand-made carpet (21.78%) among others.
Export of items such as petroleum products, oil seeds, leather products, coffee and marine products were in high negative zone.
“Exporters continue to face head winds of extreme nature, as the key economies of the world are in the midst of a demand recession. The domestic scenario of rising cost of raw material like steel aggravates the situation,” Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) said in a statement.
Total value of imports during this period stood at $42.59 billion, an increase of 7.56% over the corresponding month previous year. Oil imports at $9.58 billion, the top item over the decades, were down 10.61% in December 2020.
Besides slow growth in fuel consumption demand, lower global crude price contributed to the drop in oil imports. As per World Bank, global Brent price ($/bbl) has decreased by 24.27% in December 2020 as against same month of 2019.
Non-oil and non-Gold imports increased 8% to 28.52 billion in December 2020 compared to the same month in the previous year.
The trade deficit for December 2020 has been estimated at $15.44 billion as against the deficit of $12.49 billion in December2019 registering an increase of 23.66%. The trade deficit rose significantly as merchandise imports far exceeded the exports.
India’s overall exports (merchandise and services combined) in April-December of 2020-21 are estimated to be $348.49 billion exhibiting a negative growth of 12.65% over the same period last year. Overall imports in April-December 2020-21 are estimated to be $343.27Billion, down 25.86% over the same period last year.