Expressing optimism over India’s agriculture exports, Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal has said that the country’s exports of agriculture this fiscal are expected to reach the last year’s level of $53 billion despite restrictions imposed on shipments of certain key commodities, including rice, wheat and sugar. In 2022-23, the country’s agri exports stood at $53 billion.
He said ‘We expect that we would reach that level in spite of $4.5 billion-$5 billion impact due to the restrictions’. The government has prohibited exports of wheat and non-basmati white rice and has imposed curbs on sugar exports. He said the government is promoting exports of new products like bananas and value-added millet products to new global destinations.
He added ‘In the next three years, we are hoping to increase banana exports to $1 billion’. Exports of fruits and vegetables, cereals, meat, dairy and poultry products registered a healthy growth rate during April-November. Rice exports, however, declined 7.65 per cent to $6.5 billion during the same period.