Growing demand for organic food products in the domestic market and stringent norms by the importing countries are the main reasons for India’s low share in global trade of organic food.
In a written reply on the trade of organic food items, Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday that while the export of organic products from India has been increasing, India’s share in global trade of organic food is still very low.
The country exported 6.38 lakh tonnes (lt) of organic food products valued at ₹4,685.90 crore in 2019-20 against 6.14 lt valued at ₹5,150.76 crore in 2018-19. India had exported 4.58 lt (₹3,453.32 crore) of organic food products in 2017-18.
On the reasons for this trend, he said the certified organic production in India is still quite low, and the bulk of the production is being consumed in India as the domestic demand for organic products is increasing.
Puri said the conditions for import of organic products are quite stringent in the major importing countries and imports are generally allowed only under bilateral equivalence agreements.
Referring to the report published by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) -- ‘The World of Organic Agriculture Statistics and Emerging Trends 2020’, the Minister said India’s share in world organic exports is less than 1 per cent.
Rice export
In a separate question on the export of rice to Bangladesh, Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, said the reduction of import duty on rice by Bangladesh is likely to result in higher imports by that country. India’s export of non-basmati rice to Bangladesh increased to 1.47 lt during April-January of 2020-21 against 0.12 lt in the corresponding period of 2019-20, he said.
According to the reply, India’s export of non-basmati rice to Bangladesh stood at 20.37 lt in 2017-18 and 5.29 lt in 2018-19.