Unfavourable base: November export growth falls to 0.8%

Importantly, exports of key farm items plunged (rice by 23 per cent, other cereals by 20 per cent, oilseeds by almost 34 per cent and fruit and vegetable by 25 per cent). Some analysts wondered if the government's move to raise minimum support prices of crops had weighed on exports, although they concede it's too early to predict. Even exports of meat, dairy and poultry items plunged by over 31 per cent, while marine exports fell over 15 per cent, showed the data released by the commerce ministry on Friday. Overall, exports dropped to almost $26.5 billion in November, against $26.3 billion a year earlier when it had jumped as much as 30.6 per cent. The shipment of engineering goods, a prime driver of export growth in recent months that also account for around a fourth of total exports, dropped as much as 16.4 per cent, while gems and jewellery exports dropped almost 17 per cent. Not surprisingly, petroleum product exports, aided by higher prices, jumped 42.7 per cent in November. Services exports in October also grew at a tepid pace (by 2.7 per cent to $16.82 billion). Services imports grew just 1.5 per cent to $10.1 billion in October, according to the data released separately by the Reserve Bank of India. As for merchandise imports, elevated crude oil prices (compared with a year earlier) drove up imports of petroleum products by 41.3 per cent in November. However, imports of gold dropped 15.6 per cent and those of pearls and precious stones plunged by 46 per cent. Latest Videos Aditi Nayar, principal economist with Icra said, "If crude oil prices remain relatively stable around current levels, the merchandise trade deficit is likely to average a lower $14 billion in the remaining months of FY2019, compared to $16 billion in the first eight months of this fiscal." FIEO president Ganesh Kumar Gupta asked for urgent support, including augmenting the flow of credit and better fiscal support, including interest equalisation for merchant exporters. Dailyhunthttp://www.itsarab.org/UserProfile/tabid/61/userId/32554/Default.aspx