‘Engineering exports drop 18% in April-August’

‘Market challenging due to COVID-19’

During April-October 2020, exports declined 19.02% to $150.14 billion, while imports fell 36.28 % to $182.29 billion over the same period a year ago. Image used for representation purpose. File.

Exports of engineering goods declined over 18% to $26 billion in the April-August period of the current fiscal, EEPC India said on Monday.

The Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC) said the shipment of such goods was at $31.9 billion in the first five months of the previous fiscal.

According to EEPC, 28 of 33 product categories showed a year-on-year fall in exports. On a cumulative basis, the decline in engineering exports was 18.73% during the April-August.

“No doubt, the overall export market remains very challenging as COVID-19 continues to rage the world,” it said.

“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.

The council said an improvement in exports of iron, steel, copper and zinc in the first five months of the current fiscal was witnessed.

However, the shipment of value-added iron and steel products saw a 29.7% decrease in the period, it said.

Desai said the overall exports continue to remain in the negative territory except for critical base metals.