Continuing the trend from the previous year, the exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 13 per cent in the nine months of the current Financial Year 2022-23 (April-December) in comparison with the corresponding period of 2021-22, according to the provisional data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S).

The overall exports of APEDA products increased to $19.7 billion in April-December 2022 from $17.5 billion over the same period of the last fiscal.

The initiatives taken by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) which works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry have helped the country in achieving 84 per cent of its total export target for the year 2022-23 in nine months of the current fiscal, an official release today said.

For the year 2022-23, an export target of $23.6 billion has been fixed by APEDA for the agricultural and processed food products basket and an export of $19.694 billion has already been achieved in nine months of the current fiscal.

As per the DGCI&S provisional data, processed fruits and vegetables recorded a growth of 30.36 per cent (April-December 2022), while fresh fruits and vegetables registered a four percent growth in comparison to the corresponding months of the previous year.

Also, processed food products like cereals preparation and miscellaneous processed items reported a growth of 24.35 per cent in comparison to the first nine months of the previous year.

In April-December, 2021, fresh fruits were exported to the tune of $1078 million which increased to $1121 million in the corresponding months of the current fiscal. Exports of processed F&V jumped to $1472 million in nine months of the current fiscal from $1129 million in the corresponding months of the previous year.

The export of pulses has witnessed an increase of 80.38 per cent in nine months of the current fiscal in comparison to the same months of the last fiscal as the export of lentils increased from $242 million (April-December 2021-22) to $436 million (April-December 2022-23).

Basmati Rice exports witnessed a growth of 40.26 per cent in nine months of FY 2022-23 while the exports of poultry products increased by 91.70 per cent. The exports of other cereals recorded a growth of 13.64 per cent in nine months of the current fiscal. The exports of poultry products rose to $95 million in nine months of the current fiscal from $50 million in the corresponding months of the previous year.