Merchandise exports 11-month high in Feb

Chennai: At $41.4 billion, merchandise exports in February recorded both yearly as well as sequential growth. Services exports too moved up to a record high in February.

Merchandise exports in February rose 11.9 per cent to $41.4 billion in February, the highest in the current fiscal. It was also higher sequentially against $36.92 billion in January. Double-digit growth in engineering goods, electronics, organic and inorganic chemicals and drugs and pharmaceuticals supported exports in February.

“Engineering exports remained positive for the third straight month in February 2024 despite challenges posed by the Red Sea crisis and a slowdown in some of the key markets,” said EEPC India Chairman Arun Kumar Garodia.

Merchandise imports grew 12.16 per cent to $60.1 billion in February against the same month of 2023. They were also higher than $54.41 billion in January. A spike in gold imports to a four month high of $6 billion contributed to higher imports. “Higher prices of some commodities appear to have boosted both non-oil exports as well as non-oil non-gold imports in Feb 2024,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist, ICRA.

As a result, merchandise trade deficit widened to $18.71 billion in February, compared to $17.49 billion in January and $16.57 billion in February 2023. Merchandise exports for the period April-February was down 3.45 per cent and merchandise imports were down 5.32 per cent. Hence the trade deficit for the period was down 8.4 per cent at $225.20 billion. Under merchandise exports, 22 of the 30 key sectors exhibited positive growth in February, while 13 out of 30 key sectors exhibited negative growth under merchandise imports.

Services exports grew 17 per cent to $32.15 billion, while services imports grew 2.8 per cent. Services trade surplus improved in February.

Overall exports combining merchandise and services in the 11-month period of the fiscal stood at $709.81 billion. The overall trade deficit too improved 37.80 per cent due to the services trade surplus.

“The services trade surplus marked a new monthly high of $16.7 billion in February pushed up by a record high $32.15 billion in services exports," said Rahul Bajoria, MD & Head of EM Asia (ex-China) Economics, Barclays.