The demand for certain industrial commodities such as iron and steel, copper and zinc are showing signs of a pick-up globally but exports of value added products of iron and steel are continuing to decline, an analysis carried out by engineering goods exporters’ body EEPC India has said.

''No doubt, the overall exports market remains very challenging as Covid-19 continues to rage across the world...However, the early signals point towards a pick-up in industrial activity in select countries, mostly in North Asia,” EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai said.

While overall engineering exports from India dropped by 18.73 per cent during April-August, FY21 due to the effects of the pandemic, iron and steel saw a jump of 43.7 per cent over the same period of last fiscal. “Exports of iron and steel during this period went up from $ 3.7 billion for the five-month period of 2019-20 to $5.3 billion in the corresponding months of the current financial year,” an official release from the EEPC stated.

Also read: Exports decline 12.66% in August

Copper and products posted an increase of 60.3 per cent in the first five months of the ongoing fiscal to $501.7 million ($313 million). Similarly, zinc and products increased 43.6 per cent to $ 320.7 million in April-August this year ($223.3 million).

However, shipments of value-added products of iron and steel witnessed a sharp drop of 29.7 per cent to $2.04 billion ($2.9 billion).

Desai stressed that the fact that overall engineering exports continued to remain in the negative territory should not be lost sight of.

Also read: Engineering goods exporters seek govt intervention

On a cumulative basis, engineering exports declined 18.73 per cent in April-August 2020-21 as against $ 31.9 billion during the same period last fiscal. As many as 28 out of 33 product panels exhibited a year-on-year decline in exports.

Related Topics