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1.
Contributions to International Relations ; : 147-162, 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-2292532

ABSTRACT

Agriculture has progressively decreased in its proportion of the value of international trade flows, being largely surpassed by extractive industries and, above all, manufacturing. Latin America, and especially South America, however, is one of the regions where the highest percentage of total trade comes from agricultural trade. China has become a preferred destination for Latin American agricultural exports, with China seeing Latin America as a strategic partner in guaranteeing its food security. The objective of this chapter is to analyze the agricultural trade and investment relationship between China and Latin America, starting with an overview of the recent evolution of agricultural export and import flows between China and Latin America and its implications, followed by an analysis of the agricultural investment strategies that China has developed in Latin America and the agricultural trade agreements China has made with Latin American countries, and finishing with an exploration of the effects of COVID-19 on Sino-Latin American agricultural trade and some adaptation strategies that have been implemented. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

2.
Agricultural Situation in India ; 79(9):33-42, 2022.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-2277534

ABSTRACT

The consumption of spices is growing in India with an increase in purchasing power. It is forecasted that everyone in the country would be consuming one spice or the other with a high per capita consumption. It is estimated that we may have a population of around 1.69 billion people during 2050 and approximately the per capita consumption of turmeric, ginger, black pepper and cardamom is expected to be about 1.6 kg, 1.2 kg, 148 g and 54 g, respectively. This may increase further owing to rapid urbanization which needs spices as natural food preservatives. Hence, the present study was conducted to analyze the growth trend in spices economy of India during the period 1990-91 to 2021-22 with reference to the selected growth indicators such as area, production, domestic market, export and export value. For estimating the acceleration in the growth rates, the paper uses semi-logarithmic specification of a non-linear (quadratic) equation. From the analysis, it is observed that there is a huge scope for output and export of spices. Despite the Covid pandemic, spices export from India has continued its upward trend during 2020-21 and has attained an all-time high of US $ 4.0 billion mark for the first time in the history of spices export. It also implies that there is strong domestic market for spices in India.

3.
Alexandria Science Exchange Journal ; 43(4):1389-1410, 2022.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-2259825

ABSTRACT

The research mainly aimed to study the impact of the economic reform policy and the Corona pandemic and seasonal factors on the prices of the most important Egyptian agricultural exports and imports. The most important results were the following: - By studying the trend analysis of the monthly average of the prices of the most important exported and imported commodities, it shows the real price increase over time per month for the exports of 17 commodities represented as "olive oil, dried fruits, Rumi cheese, aromatic oils and resins, dried onions, processed cheese, dried vegetables, white cheese, juices." Its foundations are oily seeds and fruits, onions and garlic, citrus fruits, preserved strawberries, frozen artichokes, processed potatoes, frozen vegetables, and potatoes. - Also found was that the economic reform policy had a statistically significant effect on the average real price of the exports of the 17 commodities under study, as well as the imports of meat, oils, sugar, beans, and wheat, in addition to the imports of the most important production requirements studied, such as seeds, pesticides, disinfectants, and fertilizers. that during the study period. - By studying the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the real monthly prices of exports and imports of the commodities under study, it was found that the average monthly price decreased in real prices for all commodities under study, except for oils and aromatic resins, but the statistical significance of the rates of decrease during the study period did not prove.

4.
International Journal of Global Environmental Issues ; 21(1):4-22, 2022.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-2250275

ABSTRACT

The livelihood of around 70% of the Indian rural population depends on the agriculture sector. In India, even the earnings of the non-agriculture sectors in terms of backward and forward linkage for agro-based businesses also get impacted by the production of agricultural products. However, issues like cereal-centric, regionally-biased, and resource-intensive production are still about the agriculture sector of India. The present study attempts to provide an insight into the present scenario of the Indian agriculture sector after providing a brief review of the agricultural literature. Through empirical analysis using multiple regression technique, it tries to find out the factors responsible for the growth of the Indian agriculture sector. The study also explores the potential impact of COVID-19 on the agriculture sector of India based on various secondary sources. The result shows that agriculture trade, level of rainfall, and infrastructure development is significantly and positively, while life expectancy and employment in agriculture are significantly and negatively impacting the agricultural contribution to the GDP of India.

5.
Review of agrifood trade policies in the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia countries ; 138, 2023.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-2247422

ABSTRACT

This review is devoted to the analysis of the agricultural trade policy of the Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia countries. The purpose of the review is to monitor the latest developments in the trade policies of these countries that have an impact on the dynamics and structure of trade. The overview chapter summarizes the main agricultural trade trends in the twelve countries of the region from 2019-2020. The publication also includes a thematic chapter analysing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agrifood trade and trade policy in these countries.

6.
The evolution of the global structure of food and agricultural trade: evidence from network analysis: background paper for The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2022 2023 vi + 61 pp many ref ; 2023.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-2247420

ABSTRACT

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which began in February 2022, have tested the resilience of the food and agricultural trade network at a global level. The global dimension of these crises meets a policy landscape in which multilateral trade negotiations have largely stalled and regional approaches to trade integration are proliferating rapidly. Based on network analysis, this paper explores the evolution of the integration of the network of food and agricultural trade since the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) in 1995, the network structure and their implications for resilience to trade shocks. Food and agricultural trade evolved rapidly and countries worldwide became more connected to global markets in the period 1995-2007, but progress has since been limited. While countries are connected globally, trade intensity is usually higher in specific regional clusters, which have become firmer over time. Increased connectivity among countries boosted their resilience to trade shocks, but vulnerabilities remain and evidence suggests slight tendencies of disintegration in recent years.

7.
Agricultural trade & policy responses during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 2021 x + 79 pp ; 2021.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-2247074

ABSTRACT

Measures adopted around the world to contain the COVID-19 outbreak helped curb the spread of the virus and lowered the pressure on health systems. However, they also affected the global trading system, and the supply and demand of agricultural and food products. In response to concerns over food security and food safety worldwide, many countries reacted immediately to apply policy measures aiming to limit potentially adverse impacts on domestic markets. Covering the first half of 2020, the report provides an overview of short-term changes in trade patterns and policy measures related to agricultural trade that countries adopted in response to the pandemic. Despite the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and containment measures, the efforts of governments and agricultural sector stakeholders to keep agricultural markets open and trade flowing smoothly contributed to remarkably resilient value chains. Effects on global trade in food and agriculture remained limited to short-term disruptions at the very beginning of the pandemic. Governments' policy responses covered a wide range of measures, including export restrictions, lowering of import barriers, and domestic measures. Most of the trade restricting measures were short-lived-. International political commitments were pivotal in the coordination of a global response to the crisis and in deterring countries from taking unilateral measures that could have harmed food security in other parts of the world. However, COVID-19 is still spreading and may entail severe implications for access to food and longer-term shifts in global demand and supply of food and agricultural commodities.

8.
Food Policy ; 115: 102405, 2023 Feb.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2178701

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 has resulted in a shock to agrifood systems around the world, with the potential for low- and middle-income countries to be particularly affected. Although policy responses were more muted than during the 2007-2008 world food crisis, efforts to insulate from supply shocks and ensure local availability during COVID-19 have generally included export restrictions and import tariff reductions, among other responses. In an effort to enable rapid market monitoring and realignment, we develop a new indicator defined as a monthly nominal rate of protection "express" which seeks to indicate how policies enacted are affecting prices domestically in real-time in order to understand how they responded. This analysis examines changes to this indicator during the first two years of the pandemic in 24 low- and middle-income countries for the most-consumed staple cereals of the poor and food insecure. We show that gaps between domestic and international prices declined by a median of 20.3 percentage points compared to the same months in recent previous years. While policies were enacted to mitigate price increases that would have eventually been transmitted to poor consumers, other factors related to international demand and supply chain disruptions may also have contributed to the observed trend in the analyzed countries. Moreover, impacts on prices varied across countries and commodities, depending on region, net trade, and previous gap levels. Finally, this indicator can contribute to examining primary drivers of changes and conducting causal analysis to facilitate adequate agrifood policy responses to support economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 era.

9.
Foods ; 12(2)2023 Jan 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2166364

ABSTRACT

Global food production is facing increasing uncertainties under climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, provoking challenges and severe concerns to national food security. The role of global agricultural trade in bridging the imbalance between food supply and demand has come to the fore. However, the impact of multifaceted and dynamic factors, such as trade policies, national relations, and epidemics, on the stability of the agricultural trade network (ATN) needs to be better addressed. Quantitatively, this study estimated grouping characteristics and network stability by analyzing the changing global ATN from 1986 to 2018. We found that the evolution of global agricultural trade communities has gone through four stages: the dominance of the US-Asian community, the rise of the European-African community, the formation of tri-pillar communities, and the development of a multipolar community with a more complex structure. Despite witnessing a progressive increase in the nodal stability of the global ATN during the decades, particular gaps can still be found in stability across countries. Specifically, the European community achieved stability of 0.49 and its trade relations were effectively secured. Meanwhile, the remaining leading communities' stability shows a stable and upward trend, albeit with more significant challenges in trade relations among some of them. Therefore, how to guarantee the stability of trade relations and strengthen the global ATN to resist external shocks has become an essential question to safeguard global food security.

10.
Research on World Agricultural Economy ; 3(2), 2022.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1925009

ABSTRACT

The 1991 Indian reforms aimed at economic liberalization, as a part of its economic structural adjustment, and transformed the nation's economy into a more global market-based and service-oriented system, which revolutionized its agricultural trade facet. The new regime paved the way for the self-reliant Indian agriculture to expand its roots into the spheres of global competitiveness and export orientation. India enjoys competitive advantage in the international market and considering the growth in India's exports of major agricultural commodities. This study employed Constant Market Share model to analyze the export performance of its various facets such as diversification, instability, elasticity, competitiveness, etc. The findings revealed that India's growth performance of major agricultural commodities' exports both in terms of quantity and value was found satisfactory (except wheat and cashew nuts, shelled (quantity)) during 1991-2020. During the recent past decade, i.e., 2011-2020, World Demand Effect (WDE) is the main sources of India's agricultural export performance (due to general rise/fall in world demand given a constant market share of the India, unlike Market Distribution Effect (MDE), Commodity Composition Effect (CCE) and the Residual Competitiveness Effect (RCE) due to high inconsistency arising out of changes in external environment). Both MDE and RCE with respect to commodity-wise exports and CCE and RCE with respect to country-wise exports are found negative for majority of commodities and countries (markets) respectively. Consistently negative CCE for exports of agricultural products, total and across major export destinations were found more disheartening and this should deserve special attention. So, it is imperative to boost the export competitiveness of agricultural commodities from India and the future prospects of exports depend on how much the latest surge in COVID-19 infections in India affects its agricultural production and global demand conditions.

11.
Single commodity export dependence and the impacts of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa 2022. 31 pp. 28 ref. ; 2022.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1904718

ABSTRACT

As recent trade disputes have led the United States to broaden export markets, the macroeconomic and developmental characteristics of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) ostensibly indicate the region will likely be a destination for U.S. agricultural exports in upcoming years. However, many of these character-istics are symptomatic of the economic development struggles prevalent in the region, which present significant challenges to sustained development. Trade in high-value commodities, for example, may offer economic growth, but the benefits are not necessarily diffused throughout the broader economy. Serving as the primary source for economic growth, foreign exchange, and export revenue, exports of high-value commodities can create terms-of-trade shocks during periods of significant fluctuations in international prices. This can limit a country's ability to trade effectively and alter trade flows due to the resultant depreciating exchange rate. The current Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has created such a period of intense price volatility, offering a unique opportunity for modeling potential effects of a global shock on trade with these nations. This working paper illuminates the impact that this volatility can have on U.S. agricultural product export values to SSA. By simulating the effects of declining oil prices in 2020 and subsequent years through a shock to gross domestic product (GDP) in oil-depen-dent nations-i.e., Angola and Nigeria-we can evaluate the impacts of COVID-19 on agricultural trade for key U.S. export commodities to SSA.

12.
MAP Newsletter ; 02:1-35, 2021.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1887500

ABSTRACT

The year 2020 marked one of the biggest recessions in global economic activity and world trade. During this period, the EU economy contracted by 6% and its international trade followed a similar downward trend - EU exports of goods decreased by 9% and imports by 12%, compared to 2019. By contrast, EU international trade in agri-food reported a slight growth. Over the course of 2020, the value of EU agri-food exports increased to 184.3 billion (a growth of 1.4% compared to 2019), while the value of imports rose to 122.2 billion (a growth of 0.5%). As a result, the EU further reinforced its leading position among the world's biggest exporters. On the import side, the EU has become the third largest importer after the US and China. The contraction in global trade was accompanied by increasing prices of food, including commodities as evidenced by the increases reflected in the FAO Global Price Index. The EU exports a wide range of products from all parts of the value chain which demonstrates the competitiveness of the EU agri-food sector in a variety of product classes ranging from commodities to highly processed food industry products. EU imports, on the other hand, are clearly dominated by basic agricultural food and feed products, which represent about 75% of all imports. Looking at product categories, exports of pig meat and wheat strongly contributed to the increase in EU overall agri-food exports. Conversely, spirits and liqueurs as well as wine are among the sectors that experienced a difficult period for a number of reasons (e.g. the COVID pandemic, US retaliatory tariffs). The growth in EU agri-food imports was mainly driven by increases in import values for oilseeds, other than soya beans;fatty acids and waxes, palm oil, fruit including tropical fruit, and soya beans. China, Switzerland and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region were the major growth destinations for EU agri-food exports in 2020. The value of EU exports fell most to the United States, Turkey, Singapore and Japan. In terms of imports, Canada grew significantly as a source for the EU imports. By contrast, EU imports declined most in value from the United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States. In 2020, the UK has become the EU's most important partner in agri-food trade, with a share of 23% in total EU agri-food exports and 13% in total imports. With EU exports and imports both decreasing, its trade surplus with the US increased by 2% when compared to 2019, as falls on the imports side were stronger. China became the top destination for US agri-food exports. EU agri-food exports to China were primarily driven by continued record high sales of pig meat which increased by 74%. Pig meat and meat offal - the latter mainly comprised of products originating from pigs - accounted for over 40% of EU exports to China in 2020, demonstrating the importance of this market for the pig meat sector. Brazil's exports to China continued to increase in 2020, absorbing 35% of its total agri-food exports. Combined agri-food exports from Brazil to the EU and the US now account for half of Brazilian exports to China. In 2020, Brazil supplied 50% of extra-EU demand for soya beans and 40% for oilcakes. Wheat continued to be the leading EU export product to Africa with a 23% share of the EU's total export basket, whereas cocoa beans dominate in the EU imports from Africa, with the same share of 23%. Most African countries benefit from duty-free, quota-free access to the EU market under the "Everything But Arms" scheme and for many of them Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) or other trade agreements with the EU are applied, encouraging regional cooperation and trade. In 2020, the EU applied 45 free trade agreements (FTAs) with 77 partners. The share of agri-food trade under preferential agreements is also expanding and in 2021, it accounted for 31% and 41% of total EU agri-food exports and imports, respectively. The value of EU agri-food trade under preferential agreements expanded more in relative terms compared to total EU agri-food trade. EU agri-food ex

13.
Scientific Papers Series Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development ; 22(1):485-492, 2022.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1864044

ABSTRACT

Given the trends of the economic development, economic crisis, situation of food security, impact of the pandemic Covid-19, it is sensible to research the situation in the agricultural sector in the world and in Ukraine, identify areas for development and assess export potential. These trends indicate the appropriateness and relevance of the study. The aim of the research is to study the state of the agricultural sector of Ukraine and identify areas of development, prospects for development, assessment of export opportunities and export potential. The initial data for the research are obtained on the portal of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. In the process of research the methods of comparison, analysis, synthesis, generalization, SWOT-analysis are used. The results of the research indicate that Ukrainian enterprises of the agricultural sector are technically equipped, produce high quality products that fit international norms, but concerning the geography of trade of most rural companies, it should be noted a great number of unexplored markets. Moreover, it should be noted that the development of export potential will be facilitated by innovations in the agricultural sector, development of infrastructure in the country, attracting investment.

14.
Policy Research Working Paper - World Bank|2022. (9955):53 pp. 35 ref. ; 2022.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1848457

ABSTRACT

The resilience of global value chains has been put to the test by the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather events, and trade tensions spurred by growing economic nationalism and protectionism. Shocks in production and trade can be transmitted from one country to another by global value chains, although they can also help to lessen the blow of a domestic shock, such as a lockdown, and drive economic recovery. What shocks to global value chains should be anticipated in the coming years Is it possible to design policies that can enhance resilience to trade shocks in developing countries without endangering growth This paper explores simulations from the ENVISAGE global computable general equilibrium model to enhance understanding of the potential longer-term impacts of COVID-19 and the policy responses it engenders in developing countries. The paper assesses the likely impacts of measures designed to reshore production and reduce reliance on imports. It also evaluates other key factors shaping the global economy, including stylized scenarios to capture the essential elements of policies to achieve carbon emission reductions that will have an impact on trade.

15.
Working Paper - International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium|2021. (21-01):39 pp. many ref. ; 2021.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1836291

ABSTRACT

Global agricultural trade, which increased at the end of 2020, has been described as being "resilient" to the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic;however, the size and channels of its quantitative impacts are not clear. Using a reduced-form, gravity-based econometric model for monthly trade, we estimate the effects of COVID-19 incidence rates, policy restrictions imposed by governments to curb the outbreak, and the de facto reduction in human mobility/lockdown effect on global agricultural trade. We find that while agricultural trade remained quite stable through the pandemic, the sector as a whole did not go unscathed. First, we estimate that COVID-19 reduced agricultural trade by the approximate range of 5 to 10 percent at the aggregate sector level;a quantified impact two to three times smaller in magnitude than our estimated impact on trade occurring in the non-agricultural sector. Reductions in human mobility and policy restrictive responses were the most evident drivers of trade losses. Second, we find sharp differences across individual commodities. In particular, we find that non-food items (hides and skins, ethanol, cotton, and other commodities), meat products including seafood, and higher value agri-food products were most severely impacted by the pandemic;however, the COVID-19 trade effect for the majority of food and bulk agricultural commodity sectors were found to be insignificant, or in a few cases, positive. Third, examining the effect across markets, we find mixed evidence that lower-income and least-developed countries' trade flows were more sensitive to the pandemic. Fourth, we find evidence that trade flows adjusted to these disruptions over time. Finally, the pandemic also impacted the extensive margins of trade with more severe disruptions detected in air shipments. Findings from this study provide intriguing insights into the dimensions of global agricultural supply chains most resilient and most vulnerable to major global market disruptions.

16.
U.S.-Mexico agricultural trade in 2020|2022. 44 pp. many ref. ; 2022.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1777270

ABSTRACT

This article reports about the Agricultural trade between the United States and Mexico that underwent many changes in 2020 in the face of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Overall, U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico declined in April 2020 and did not recover until November 2020. Meanwhile, U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico declined in April and May 2020 before resuming their long-term upward trend. Beef and veal, cotton, and pork were the U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico with the largest decreases in export value between calendar years 2019 and 2020. The agricultural imports from Mexico with the largest increases in import value were tequila, fresh tomatoes, and beer. The economic downturn and shift away from food expenditures at hotels, restaurants, and institutional establishments because of the pandemic explain some of these changes. However, a larger set of supply and demand determinants was at play, including conventional factors unrelated to the pandemic, such as the long-term expansion of Mexico's horticultural export sector and year-to-year changes in crop production.

17.
Agriculture ; 12(3):361, 2022.
Article in English | ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-1760293

ABSTRACT

The pattern of international agricultural trade is undergoing profound changes. The influence of country risks on the international agricultural trade pattern is prominent. In this paper, we comprehensively analyze the international agricultural trade patterns and explore the influence of country risks on them. Specifically, we first construct an international agricultural trade network (IATN) based on complex network theory. Second, we analyze each country’s diversity of import sources and the position of countries in the IATN using the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) and network indicators, such as in-degree, out-degree, weighted in-degree, weighted out-degree, and betweenness centrality. Third, this paper explores the influence of different types of country risks, including economic risk and political risk, on international agricultural trade patterns using the panel regression method. The results show that countries played different roles and occupied different positions in the international agricultural trade pattern;notably, the United States occupied a core position, while Japan and Mexico had insufficient diversity in import sources. Moreover, based on the panel regression method, we find that political risks have a positive impact on the agricultural trade pattern, while an unstable economic environment could inhibit the agricultural trade pattern in various countries. This study could provide references for countries to implement agricultural trade policies regarding country risks to ensure stable agricultural trade relations and national food security.

18.
Working Paper Series - National Bureau of Economic Research (Massachusetts)|2021. (w29551):unpaginated. 37 ref. ; 2021.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1760228

ABSTRACT

Global agricultural trade, which increased at the end of 2020, has been described as "resilient" to the impacts of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic;however, the size and channels of its quantitative impacts are not clear. Using a reduced-form, gravity-based econometric model for monthly trade, the researchers estimate the effects of COVID-19 incidence rates, policy restrictions imposed by governments to curb the outbreak, and the de facto reduction in human mobility/lockdown effect on global agricultural trade through the end of 2020. The researchers find that while agricultural trade remained quite stable through the pandemic, the sector as a whole did not go unscathed. First, the researchers estimate that COVID-19 reduced agricultural trade by the approximate range of 5 to 10 percent at the aggregate sector level;a quantified impact two to three times smaller in magnitude than our estimated impact on trade occurring in the non-agricultural sector. Second, the researchers find sharp differences across individual commodities. In particular, the researchers find that non-food items (hides and skins, ethanol, cotton, and other commodities), meat products including seafood, and higher value agri-food products were most severely impacted by the pandemic;however, the COVID- 19 trade effect for the majority of food and bulk agricultural commodity sectors were found to be insignificant, or in a few cases, positive. Finally, the researchers also examine the effects across low vs high income countries, the changing dynamics of the pandemic's effect on trade flows, and the effects along the extensive product margins of trade.

19.
Journal of Food Distribution Research ; 52(2):51-75, 2021.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1619110

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the determinants of trade actions in the agricultural and food sector related to the coronavirus pandemic. These emergency trade measures aimed to prevent the inflow of certain products and promote the import of others. The researchers investigated the determinants of such measures using product-level trade action data for WTO members. Applying an instrumental variable approach that accounts for high-dimensional fixed effects, the researchers found that trade actions relate negatively to the applied tariff level and the domestic pandemic severity. Countries implemented fewer trade facilitation actions considering increased domestic COVID-19 cases, but this was done more in response to spiking foreign case numbers.

20.
Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics ; 76(3):352-370, 2021.
Article in English | CAB Abstracts | ID: covidwho-1602608

ABSTRACT

Agricultural sector has played an important role in the economic development of the country not only by earning precious foreign exchange by exporting agricultural commodities but also for achieving the goal of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The present study attempts to analyse the trends and performance of agricultural trade during 1990-91 to 2020-21, with the last year coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on secondary data. the study highlights that despite of COVID-19 pandemic, agricultural exports from India increased from Rs.253976 crore in 2019-20 to Rs.305469 crore in 2020-21 and net agriculture export surplus has also increased to Rs.147681 crore in 2020-21 from Rs.105530 crore in 2019-20, registering a growth of 20.75 per cent and 39.94 per cent, respectively compared to the previous year. Further, exports of agri-products registered a 35.76 per cent increase in the first quarter (April-June) of 2021-22 as compared to the same period in 2020-21 due to reasons such as on higher overseas demand. The main drivers of increase in agri-exports in 2020-21 were wheat, vegetable oils, other cereals, non-basmati rice and molasses and during first quarter of 2021-22, other cereals, meat, dairy and poultry products, cereal preparations, miscellaneous processed items, oil meals and marine products. Agri-imports in the first quarter of 2021-21 also grew, being highest for vegetable oils, followed by fruits and vegetables and cotton raw and waste in comparison to the same period in 2020-21. The largest markets for India's agricultural products are USA, China, Bangladesh, UAE, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Nepal, Iran and Malaysia. The study also revealed that share of agricultural exports to agricultural gross value added (GVA) increased from 3.88 per cent in 1990-91 to 8.48 per cent in 2020-21. While the share of agricultural imports to agricultural GVA decreased from 6.54 per cent in 2016-17 to 4.36 per cent in 2020-21 indicating decreased dependence on import of agricultural products in India. During 1990-91 to 2020-21, agri-exports grew (13.99 per cent) less than the agri-import (16.85 per cent). However, agriculture trade grew more than the total merchandise trade in the country. These results have important policy implications. Emphasis needs to be given for diversification of agricultural exports for more products and more destinations with improved infrastructure, trained human resources and support facilities to move up the value chain and meet international standards like sanitary and phytosanitary measures, etc. The efficiency at production level needs to be raised in order to make the product price competitive in the international market. The producers and exporters need to be educated and trained to maintain the quality of the products as per global standards.

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