India has made into the top 10 list of agricultural produce exporters in 2019 with a sizeable share in the export of rice, cotton, soya beans and meat, according to a World Trade Organization (WTO) report on the trends in world agricultural trade in the past 25 years.
As per the report, in 2019, Mexico and India, with 3.4% and 3.1% share in global agri exports, respectively, replaced Malaysia (7th) and New Zealand (9th) as the largest exporters.
The US, which once in 1995 topped the list with 22.2% witnessed a fall in its share by 13.8% in 2019. The European Union with 16.1% took over the US in 2019. While Brazil maintained its ranking as the third largest exporter, increasing its share from 4.8% in 1995 to 7.8% in 2019. China climbed from the sixth spot in 1995 (4%) to fourth in 2019
Speaking of the top rice exporters, the report suggested that India India took over Thailand which topped the list in 1995. As per the report, Thailand (38%), India (26%) and the US (19%) in 1995, while in 2019, India (33%) overtook Thailand (20%), while Vietnam (12%) overtook the US to the third spot.
The top 10 exporters accounted for more than 96% of exports in both 1995 and 2019.
In 2019, India also became the third-largest cotton exporter (7.6%), and the fourth-largest importer (10%). This is a drastic turn of table for India as in 1995 it was not featured in the top 10 list.
In the largest traded agri product, soya beans, India (0.1%) has a meagre share, but was ranked ninth in the world. In the “meat and edible meat offal” category, India was ranked eighth in the world with a 4% share in global trade.
The report further revealed, that India which was the seventh-largest wheat and meslin exporter in 1995, does not feature in the top 10 list in 2019.
However, India lagged behind as a value-added contributor to world agri exports. The Indian share of foreign value-added content in its agri exports was also low at 3.8% primarily due to high tariffs on agri imports to protect the domestic market.
