Consignments through Red Sea added to woes of the exporting community, says Ahmed
FIEO President Israr Ahmed says the 3% increase in January 2024 exports to US$36.92 billion shows the sector resilience despites having to brave odds such as the Red Sea crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The exporters have consistently been performing, driving the growth of exports, and also adding to the growth momentum of the economy, Ahmed said on 15 Feb 2024.
He noted that imports also rose 3% to US$54.41 billion.
Main growth drivers of merchandise exports during the month included Petroleum Products, Engineering Goods, Iron Ore, Electronic Goods, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, which is itself is a good sign as most of these sectors are labour-intensive sectors giving boost to employment creation in the country, according to Ahmed.
The April-January financial year exports dipped 4.89% to US$353.92 billion while import dependence was reduced by 6.71% to US$561.12 billion.
Ahmed further reiterated that recent tensions in West Asia especially the threat for consignments routing through the Red Sea has further added to woes of the exporting community, as the freight rates have gone up unimaginably high, with further burden of various surcharge, pushing Indian exporters to hold back around 25% of the outbound shipments transiting through the Red Sea, which added to the sense of scepticism and nervousness among the businesses and markets across the world.
Ahmed also raised concern that much will depend on the new agreement to be signed with buyers during the new fiscal as the exporters have been absorbing the burden of increased freight cost as per the old agreement.
The FIEO President, therefore, reiterated that the need of the hour is to address the Red Sea crisis challenges by ensuring availability of marine insurance, regular supply of containers and rationale increase in freight charges.
The sector also needs easy and low cost of credit, marketing support, besides conclusion of some of the key FTAs with UK, Oman and EU soon.
However, Ahmed is optimistic that the FY 2023-24 exports will cross last year’s figures. Fiinews.com
