India’s merchandise exports fell 8.8% to $33.88 billion in February, while imports fell 8.2% to $51.31 billion from a year earlier. Image for representation | Photo Credit: KK Mustafa
India’s merchandise exports contracted 8.8% to $33.9 billion in February, while imports fell 8.2% to $51.31 billion from a year ago, according to commerce ministry estimates released on Wednesday. 11.6% decline in October 2022 and a 3% decline in December 2022,
The value of outbound shipments fell for 16 of India’s top 30 export items in February, with 14 of them recording near or greater than double-digit declines. This included a 9.7% drop in engineering exports, which have been the bulk of India’s exports in recent years.
Read this also | A Delicate Pace: On the Economy and India’s Growth
The goods trade deficit during February 2023 fell 7% to $17.43 billion, slightly larger than January’s deficit of $16.56 billion, which was the lowest in at least 18 months. The first two months of 2023 now see a sharply lower average deficit than the entire 2022, when the monthly deficit reached a record $29.23 billion in September.
oil exports fell
CareAge Ratings Chief Economist Rajni Sinha said, “While both oil and non-oil exports contracted, oil exports fell sharply by 28.8%, while imports fell below the $52 billion mark, nearly a one-year low.” was not seen.”
Although gold imports fell nearly 45% from February 2022 levels to $2.63 billion, it marked a 277% month-on-month jump from January imports of the yellow metal.
For the first 11 months of 2022-23, India’s total merchandise exports now stand at $405.94 billion, up 7.55% over the same period in 2021-22. Imports during the same period increased by 18.82% to $653.47 billion from about $550 billion a year ago. As a result, India’s merchandise trade deficit for this year is now 43.5% higher than that for the first 11 months of 2021-22, at $247.53 billion.
‘Keeping pace’
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal asserted, “Imports are reducing month-on-month due to trade deficit, which shows that the efforts under the leadership of Commerce and Industry Minister to reduce unnecessary imports are bearing fruit.”
On the exports front, despite February’s contraction, India has “maintained the momentum” and “surpassed the year’s target”, referring to the $750 billion goalpost for goods and services exports in 2022-23. Will go”.
export slowdown
Although the reduction in the trade deficit is positive, Ms. Sinha said it is mainly due to lower imports amid softening commodity prices. “In the coming months, import performance will remain important to gauge the pulse of domestic demand, even as the export slowdown is likely to intensify further amid an uncertain global scenario,” it said.
While the government had initially forecast a 6.6% decline in exports for January, exports for the month have now been pegged at $35.76 billion by about $2.8 billion, reflecting a growth of 1.5% from January 2022 levels. The import number for January also rose to $52.33 billion from $50.66 billion, down 0.45% from a year ago.
On a sequential basis, February exports were lower by 5.25% compared to January 2023 while the import bill was lower by about 2% from the previous month’s level.
“Some employment-intensive sectors such as textiles, plastics, linoleum and engineering have been impacted due to contraction in demand, with rising inflation and looming recession in some markets. However, we are hopeful that he will recover in the next few months.