This is the fourth month of decline in goods imports and third consecutive fall in monthly exports.
Officials said the global demand scenario was “not looking very good” at present but was likely to improve after two-three months.
They expected a pick-up in demand in the EU and the US, and the opening up of the Chinese economy to boost India’s exports.
“After the Russia-Ukraine conflict commodity prices had gone up, which is cooling off now, and you can see that in our reduced import figures. The impact of Russia-Ukraine (conflict) and cooling down of commodity prices is visible on both exports and imports,” said Santosh Sarangi, director general of foreign trade.
Under merchandise exports, 11 of the 30 key sectors exhibited positive growth in April.”The demand scenario is not looking very good as far as Europe is concerned, and the US also we have seen a decline. For the next 2-3 months, demand scenario does not look very optimistic,” he said.
“Textiles, plastic & linoleum exports continued to decline in April 2023 because of subdued demand due to recessionary effects in major economies,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
As per an official, imports had declined on the back of cooling commodity prices and reduced demand for products considered as discretionary spends.
“This is likely to result in a decline in exports and imports. Gems, jewellery, petroleum have witnessed major import decline,” the official said.
The overall trade deficit (goods and services) in April was a 21-month low of $1.38 billion, official data released on Monday showed.
“Russia-Ukraine war coupled with the emerging geopolitical scenario has also made the international scenario much tougher for the exporters,” said A Sakthivel, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations.
