COVID-19 outbreak could help Agri exports: Agriculture Ministry analysis

Key Facts

• Supply shortages and trade restrictions have already had a harsh impact on China’s total exports, which dropped more than 17% in January and February 2020, in comparison to the previous year.
• In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Centre has identified 21 agricultural products, in which Indian exports could benefit from trade restrictions against Chinese goods.

How could India benefit?

• Some of these products include natural honey, onions, and shallots, chillis, potatoes, vegetables, guavas, mangoes, grapes, tamarinds, cashew apples, lychees, a black fermented tea, spices, groundnuts, soya beans, paddy, sesamum seeds, vegetable seeds for sowing and plants used in perfumery or pharmacy.
• Major markets that currently buy these products from China include Vietnam, the USA, Japan, the U.K., the Philippines, Malaysia, Russia, and Korea.
• The total value of China’s global exports of these products amounted to $5488.6 million in 2018.
• India exported $4,445.9 million worth of these commodities in the same period.
• India could now have a chance to grab part of China’s market share.
• There are 21 agri tariff lines where China’s global exports and India’s global exports are more than $25 million and where India is the price and volume-wise competitive and capable to provide an alternative.

Impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the export of agri items to China:

• India exported agricultural items worth $191 million to China during 2018-19, including capsicum, isabgol, and cumin seeds.
• Cotton linter and mango pulp — may get impacted, as they are used as raw material by China for further processing and then export. Apart from these two, most major items are used for domestic consumption in China and may not be too badly hit.

Impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on import of agri items from China:

• India imported agriculture items worth $109.74 million from China in 2018-19, with seven products, including kidney beans, bamboo, cassia, fresh grapes, live plants and plums, and sloes, accounting for 84% of that.
• Only bamboo and kidney beans – are imported in bulk from China in the sense that they respectively represent 35.5% and 41.2% import from China out of India’s total imports from the world.
• In the case of those two items, India is still striving for self-sufficiency through the Bamboo Mission and the National Food Security Mission.

Source: The Hindu