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Agri Exports: India breaks into the Top 10

  • 29 Sep 2021

India broke 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.

    • 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, while the US, which topped the list in 1995 (22.2%), was overtaken by the European Union in 2019 (16.1%).
    • The US’s share fell to 13.8% in 2019.
    • 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 (5.4%).
  • Rice: In 2019, India (33%) overtook Thailand (20%) to top the list, while Vietnam (12%) overtook the US to the third spot. The top rice exporters in 1995 included Thailand (38%), India (26%) and the US (19%). The top 10 exporters accounted for more than 96% of exports in both 1995 and 2019.
  • Cotton: India is the third-largest cotton exporter (7.6%) and the fourth-largest importer (10%) in 2019.
  • Soya Beans: In the largest traded agri product, soya beans, India (0.1%) has a meagre share, but was ranked ninth in the world.
  • Meat: In the “meat and edible meat offal" category, India was ranked eighth in the world with a 4% share in global trade. While India was the seventh-largest wheat and meslin exporter in 1995, it does not feature in the top 10 list in 2019.