Fruits and vegetables, processed cereal exports jump 9% in Q1FY25

India's fruit trade rises

Exports of fruits and vegetables and cereal preparations and miscellaneous product items increased 9 percent in the first quarter of FY25, as per data released by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) on July 19.

While the over agricultural trade declined by 3 percent, owing to restrictions on rice and decline in cashew and oil meals products, trade in non-regulated categories was 3 percent higher, Abhishek Dev, chairman, APEDA said.

In the first two months of the year, dairy products were up 30 percent, whereas an increase in global cocoa prices pushed the trade up by 50 percent.

On the other hand, non-basmati rice trade, the exports of which have been banned, was down 13 percent, and maize exports had dropped 75 percent compared with the previous year.

Maize exports were down, as prices of domestic market are higher than the international market and there is good production across the globe.

APEDA has been trying to corner a larger share of the global market with focus on 25 products.

On these focus products, trade was up 14.4 percent from last year, as they accounted for $14.4 billion of exports.

“The idea is to take exports up further and capture a significant share of the $400 billion market in these products,” said Rajesh Agrawal, additional secretary, department of commerce.

Dev noted that the organization has already started working on this goal and plans to double farmer producers organisations (FPOs) to 2,500 within a year from 1,200 at present.

The organisation also plans to increase exports on government’s digital commerce platform ONDC to 250, from 13.

“We are also focusing on North Eastern Region and areas like Odisha to increase trade,” Dev noted.