Export fall narrows to 6.6 per cent in October

India's exports declined by around 6.6 per cent year-on-year to $13.19 billion in October 2009 from $14.13 billion in October 2008, which is less than half the 13.8 per cent fall in the previous month, minister of commerce and industry Anand Sharma said at a press conference in New Delhi today.

Quick estimates of exports during October 2009 indicates significant signs of stabilisation and improvement in India's exports compared with the decline of close to 39 per cent in May 2009, Sharma said, adding that the pace of contraction of exports has been steadily falling over the past several months.

"The stablisation in the exports needs to be viewed in the context of projections of IMF of 11.9 per cent decline in world trade volume during the year 2009 coupled with 36.6 per cent decline in commodity prices of oil, and 20.3 per cent decline in non-fuel commodity prices during 2009," the minister said.

India's exports of man-made textiles, tobacco and fruits and vegetables in fact increased in dollar terms during April-October 2009 compared with the corresponding period of previous year despite the global slowdown.

An analysis of the sectoral performance indicates that exports of man-made yarn/fabric/made-ups increased by 1.2 per cent and tobacco exports jumped 20.5 per cent while exports of fruits and vegetables rose 5.7 per cent during the period, Sharma said.

Further analysis shows that some export commodities which were significantly impacted by global slowdown, have now shown a turnaround in exports during October 2009 (with positive export in October 2009 as compared to October 2008), he said.