India’s goods exports in July 2024 declined 1.48 per cent (year-on-year) to $33.98 billion pulled down by sectors including petroleum products, gems and jewellery and chemicals as global demand continued to be affected by geo-political uncertainties and growing protectionism, according to the government.

Trade deficit widened to $23.5 billion in July 2024, compared with $19.3 billion in July 2023, as imports during the month increased 7.46 per cent to $57.48 billion fuelled by products such as crude oil, silver and electronic goods, per quick estimates released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday.

“The impact on goods exports in July 2024 is largely due to our low exports of petroleum products while import of crude is high. India is growing at more than 7 per cent, while the world economy is growing at about 3 per cent. Our consumption is going to grow more. That is perhaps reflecting on more crude oil imports (by India) and less availability of petroleum products for exports,” Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said at a media briefing on Wednesday.

Non-petroleum exports in July 2024 increased marginally by 3.52 per cent to $28.75 billion while petroleum exports during the month fell 22 per cent to $5.2 billion.

Factors responsible

Exporters said that factors such as high freight rates, inadequate availability of containers, protectionist measures from major export partners and weak demand in some key markets were acting as spoilers. “The on-going tensions in West Asia and its further escalation pose downside risks to external trade. The political unrest in neighbouring Bangladesh will also likely add to the problems,” said Arun Garodia, Chairperson, Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC). Despite external challenges, engineering goods, one of the top export items from India, posted a growth of 3.6 per cent (year-on-year) in July 2024 to $9.03 billion.

Exports during April-July 2024 increased 4.15 per cent to $144.12 billion while imports grew 7.57 per cent to $ 229.7 billion. Trade deficit during April-July 2024 increased to $ 85.58 billion compared to $ 75.15 billion during April-July 2023.

“The growth of 4.5 per cent in goods exports in the April-July 2024 period is quite significant given the fact what is happening around the world and the kind of protectionist policies being followed by countries,” Barthwal said, adding that there were indications that last year’s export numbers would be bettered this fiscal.

Crude oil imports rose 17.44 per cent to $13.87 billion and silver imports increased 439 per cent to $165.74 million in July 2024. Gold imports, however, dipped by 10.65 per cent to $ 3.13 billion during the month.

Service exports during April-July 2024 are estimated at $117.35 billion compared with $106.79 billion in April-July 2023 while imports are projected at $ 62.95 billion compared with $ 59.19 billion in April-July 2023, per the Commerce Department.

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