Sectors such as leather and leather products, man-made yarn, fabrics and marine products have also picked up from March 2021 onwards

India registered an impressive performance on merchandise exports in May 2021, showing a significant growth of 67.39 percent over May 2020 level and 7.93 percent over May 2019 level.

Talking to media, Commerce Secretary Dr Anup Wadhawan on Thursday said merchandise export, excluding petroleum, oil and lubricant, gems and jewellery increased by 45.96 per cent in May 2021 over the same period of 2020-21 and by 11.51 per cent over the same period of 2019-20.

Merchandise imports registered a positive growth of 68.54 per cent during May 2021 vis-à-vis the same period last year. As compared to May 2019, imports have declined by (-) 17.47 per cent during May 2021.

Service exports estimated for May 2021 are USD 17.85 billion, registering a positive growth of 6.44 per cent vis-à-vis May 2020.

The estimated value of services import for May 2021 is USD 9.97 billion registering a positive growth of 0.30 per cent vis-à-vis May 2020. While the estimated value of net of services export for May 2021 is USD 7.88 billion registering a positive growth of 15.39 per cent vis-à-vis May 2020.

The commodities which have recorded positive growth during May 2021 vis-à-vis May 2020 are: cereals (823.83%), jute manufacturing, including floor covering (255.77%), petroleum products (199.85%), handicrafts excl. handmade Carpet (192.05%), gems and jewellery (179.16%), leather and leather manufactures (155.06%), manmade yarn, fabrics (146.35%), meat, dairy and poultry products (146.19%), cotton yarn, fabrics, handloom products (137.92%), RMG of all textiles (114.15%), carpet (107.97%), electronic goods (90.8%), ceramic products and glassware (81.39%), mica, coal and other ores, minerals including processed minerals (74.95%), cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed item (53.66%), engineering goods (53.14%), cashew (38.4%), marine products (33.59%), iron ore (25.68%), plastic and linoleum (20.44%), organic and inorganic chemicals (20.11%), tobacco (15.06%), rice (12.22%), oil meals (8.28%), spices (1.37%) and coffee (1.07%).

Iron ore exports have been consistently growing throughout 2020-2021 and in the first two months of 2021-22. Rice export has been consistently growing during 2020-2021, April 2021 and May 2021 except for the month of April 2020.

Cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed items, other cereals and oil meals exports have been consistently growing since June 2020. Jute manufacturing including floor covering and carpet exports have been consistently growing since July 2020.

Handicrafts excluding handmade carpet, cotton, yarn, fabrics, handloom products, ceramic products and glassware, spices and ‘others’ categories exports are growing consistently since September 2020. Mica, coal and other ores, minerals including processed minerals export are consistently growing since October 2020.

Sectors such as leather and leather products, man-made yarn, fabrics and marine products, which had been exhibiting negative growth during the pandemic (2020-2021), have picked up from March 2021 onwards.