India’s Agricultural & Processed Food Products Exports Touched $21.5 Billion In Apr–Feb 2021-22

New Delhi: Notwithstanding Covid-19 challenges, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has scripted a new success story by achieving 90 per cent of the export target fixed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the financial year 2021-22.

The APEDA has successfully exported agricultural and processed food products worth USD 21.5 billion in the first 11 months of the current fiscal and is all set to achieve the annual export target of USD 23.71 billion for 2021-22.

This comes at a time when the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi lauded the farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers and exporters after India has achieved the ambitious target of USD 400 Billion of goods exports nine days ahead of the schedule in the current fiscal.

APEDA has a share of more than 5 per cent in achieving this target of USD 400 billion of mercantile exports in the current fiscal.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister said, “India set an ambitious target of USD 400 Billion of goods exports and achieved this target for the first time ever. I congratulate our farmers, weavers, MSMEs, manufacturers, exporters for this success. This is a key milestone in our Aatmanirbhar Bharat journey.”

Being the highest foreign exchange earner, 91 per cent of rice export target of USD 8.67 billion has been achieved by APEDA so far. Rice exports has crossed USD 8.67 billion from April-February in the current fiscal, India has exported rice worth USD 8.62 billion, while the export of other cereals has jumped to 105 per cent of the export target of USD 847 million.

In the fruits and vegetables category, against the export target of USD 3048 million till February, APEDA has exported F&V worth of USD 2506 million, which is 75 per cent of the total target.

The cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed items have been exported to the tune of USD 2036 million which is 89 per cent of the export target of USD 2102 million till February in the current fiscal year, while the export of meat, dairy and products has been recorded at USD 3771 million, which is 82 per cent of the USD 4205 million export target fixed till February 2022.

The export of wheat recorded a huge surge at USD 1742 million during April-January 2021-22, growing 387 per cent over the corresponding period in 2020-21 when it touched USD 358 million, while other cereals registered a growth of 66 per cent by fetching USD 869 million during April-January 2021-22 over the corresponding period in 2020-21 when it touched USD 527 million.

Meat, dairy and poultry products exports grew over 13 per cent standing at USD 3408 million in April-January 2021-22 compared to USD 3005 million in the corresponding ten-month period of 2020-21. Fruits and vegetables exports were up by 16 per cent to touch USD 1207 million during April-January 2021-22 against USD 1037 million in April-January 2020-21, while processed fruits and vegetables exports were up by 11 per cent to reach USD 1269 million during first ten months of 2021-22 against USD 1143 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.

For promoting exports of unique products during the year, APEDA organized series of flag off events where Geographical Identification (GI) certified Dahanu Gholvad Chikoo, Jalgaon Banana and Marathwada Kesar sourced from farmers in Maharashtra were exported for the first time. APEDA facilitated the first consignment of Leteku (Burmese Grape), a fruit rich in vitamin C and Iron, from Guwahati airport to Dubai, besides the fresh jackfruit from Tripura to UK and Germany through Guwahati.

The first consignment of fresh ‘Raja Mircha’ also referred as king chilli was exported from Nagaland to London and Honey was exported for the first time from Assam to Dubai.  The first consignment of  GI tagged Nendran banana from Kerala to Singapore and the value added products from Jackfruit and Passion fruit were exported to New Zealand. The first consignment of GI tagged Vazhakulam Pineapple to Dubai and Sharjah and GI tagged Marayoor Jaggery from Marayoor, Idukki, Kerala to Dubai was also facilitated by APEDA.

For the first time APEDA facilitated exports of banana from Lakhimpur, UP to Iran and five traditional varieties of rice from Gujarat – Gujarat 17 Rice (Jeerasar/Jeera Samba), Surti Kolam Rice, Ambemohar Rice, Kali Mooch Rice and Indrayani Rice was exported to the United Kingdom.

APEDA also supported exports of Himalayan Millets (Organic Barnyard, Finger Millets and Amaranthus) to Vietnam for the first time from Uttarakhand and shipment of puffed rice sourced from Cuttack, Odisha has been exported to Malaysia via Vizag seaport.

“We continue to provide assistance to exporters based on clusters approach in collaboration with state governments while taking into consideration objective of Agriculture Export Policy, 2018,” Dr. M. Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA, said.