Exports grow by 4% in October

India’s overall exports in October 2022 were estimated at US$ 58.36 billion, growing by 4% YoY. While merchandise exports dropped by 16% during the month, positive growth was witnessed for some commodities including oil seeds, oil meals, electronic goods, tobacco, tea and rice. 

Overall Merchandise and Services exports by India in October 2022 were estimated at US$ 58.36 billion growing by 4.03% YoY. Overall imports in October 2022 were estimated to be at US$ 73.00 billion, growing by 11.82% YoY, according to data released by the Department of Commerce.

Merchandise Exports

Merchandise exports during the month stood at US$ 29.78 Billion, as compared to US$ 35.73 billion in October 2021. Commodities that showed a positive growth included Oil seeds, Oil Meals, Electronic goods, Tobacco, Tea and Rice.

Table 1: Commodities showing positive growth         

Sl. No.	Commodities	OCT 2021	OCT 2022	%  Change OCT 2022
1	Oil seeds	84.26	149.98	78
2	Oil Meals	55.8	91.87	64.64
3	Electronic Goods	1347	1853.77	37.62
4	Tobacco	85.28	102.68	20.4
5	Tea	65.37	72.88	11.49
6	Rice	692.38	703.96	1.67

Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry; Values in Million US$

A negative growth was seen for a number of commodities like iron ore, cotton, jute, cashews, spices, coffee, ceramic products & glassware, Marine Products, fruits & vegetables, plastic & linoleum, petroleum products and some other products. The table below shows those commodities that underwent a negative growth in October 2022.

Table 2: Commodities showing negative growth

Sl. No.	Commodities	OCT 2021	OCT 2022	% Change OCT 2022
1.	Iron Ore	78.73	7.83	-90.05
2.	Handicrafts excl. hand made carpet	198.99	98.05	-50.73
3.	Cotton Yarn/Fabs./made-ups, Handloom Products etc.	1335.97	719.03	-46.18
4.	Jute Mfg. including Floor Covering	43.55	23.57	-45.88
5.	Cashew	43.3	25.23	-41.73
6.	Carpet	173.19	107.13	-38.14
7.	Other cereals	62.23	44.53	-28.44
8.	Plastic & Linoleum	782.88	580.53	-25.85
9.	Man-made Yarn/Fabs./made-ups etc.	468.69	350.56	-25.2
10.	Meat, dairy & poultry products	383.67	299.2	-22.02
11.	Gems & Jewellery	4221.22	3311.27	-21.56
12.	Engineering Goods	9401.21	7402.97	-21.26
13.	RMG of all Textiles	1254.13	988.72	-21.16
14.	Mica, Coal & Other Ores, Minerals including processed minerals	441.8	351.9	-20.35
15.	Spices	333.22	268.11	-19.54
16.	Organic & Inorganic Chemicals	2569.37	2146.88	-16.44
17.	Petroleum Products	5355.77	4751.69	-11.28
18.	Marine Products	807.77	720.32	-10.83
19.	Ceramic products & glassware	284.47	256.84	-9.71
20.	Drugs & Pharmaceuticals	2064.45	1873.73	-9.24
21.	Cereal preparations & miscellaneous processed items	186.91	174.38	-6.7
22.	Coffee	85.71	80.11	-6.53
23.	Leather & leather products	370.68	349.03	-5.84
24.	Fruits & Vegetables	225.88	222.5	-1.5

Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry; Values in million US$

 Merchandise Imports

Merchandise imports in October 2022 were at US$ 56.69 Billion, as compared to US$ 53.64 Billion in October 2021. Commodities like Cotton Raw & Waste, Fertilisers, Petroleum Crude & products, Textile yarn Fabric & made-up articles showed positive growth. Pulses, fruits and vegetables, vegetable oils, electronic goods, Medicinal & Pharmaceutical products were amongst the other commodities that showed a negative growth during the month. The tables below show the import growth in various commodities in October 2022.

Table 3: Commodities showing positive growth

Sl. No.	Commodities	OCT 2021	OCT 2022	% Change OCT 2022
1	Cotton Raw & Waste	38.11	172.13	351.67
2	Fertilisers, Crude & manufactured	805.39	2105.03	161.37
3	Newsprint	32.21	68.75	113.44
4	Pulp and Waste paper	139.62	224.98	61.14
5	Iron & Steel	1444.65	1991.41	37.85
6	Petroleum, Crude & products	12278.88	15852.43	29.1
7	Leather & leather products	66.12	85.35	29.08
8	Transport equipment	1961.71	2495.03	27.19
9	Wood &  Wood products	471.24	575.89	22.21
10	Project goods	44.33	48.38	9.14
11	Professional instrument, Optical goods, etc.	467.89	506.31	8.21
12	Non-ferrous metals	1427.9	1539.7	7.83
13	Textile yarn Fabric, made-up articles	199.48	207.71	4.13
14	Machinery, electrical & non-electrica l	3536.06	3632.12	2.72
15	Artificial resins, plastic materials, etc.	1725.4	1762.4	2.14

Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry; Values in Million US$

Table 4: Commodity showing negative growth

Sl. No.	Commodities	OCT 2021	OCT 2022	%  Change OCT 2022
1	Sulphur & Unroasted Iron Pyrites	31.93	11.23	-64.83
2	Pulses	378.41	204.81	-45.88
3	Silver	897.35	585.09	-34.8
4	Gold	5101.7	3700.15	-27.47
5	Dyeing/tanning/colouring materials	413.11	304.77	-26.23
6	Pearls, precious & Semi-precious stones	2482.7	2159.93	-13
7	Fruits & vegetables	239.53	211.4	-11.74
8	Organic & Inorganic Chemicals	2,634.16	2359.02	-10.45
9	Electronic goods	6,828.85	6200.22	-9.21
10	Chemical material & products	934.43	855.67	-8.43
11	Metaliferrous ores & other minerals	794.86	728.11	-8.4
12	Machine tools	402.27	383.79	-4.59
13	Coal, Coke & Briquettes, etc.	3,308.85	3178.07	-3.95
14	Vegetable Oil	1,636.9	1580.63	-3.44
15	Medicinal & Pharmaceutical products	657.64	642.78	-2.26

Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry

According to Mr. Prahalathan Iyer, Chief General Manager, Research & Analysis, India Exim Bank, “the export slowdown has been caused both by supply and demand side factors. Continued bottlenecks in logistics and supply chain, shortages of semiconductors and some metal commodities, and elevated energy prices keep pressure on the production cycle, on the supply side. This could be seen in the negative export trends witnessed by engineering goods, plastics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, among others. The inflationary pressures due to energy prices has reduced the purchasing power of households, on the demand side. Exports of most of the consumer goods categories, like Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, Leather, Handicrafts, Carpets, are also in negative in the month of October”.

The future trend will be highly dependent on how the economies of USA and Europe would recover. Till September, both economies have been strong contributors to India’s export gain. During April-September, India’s exports to the US increased by 15.12% YoY to reach US$ 41.51 billion, while exports to the EU increased by 25.16% to reach US$ 36.4 billion.