Signs of Pick - up in Global Demand for Select Industrial Commodities Amidst Overall Subdued Trade: EEPC India

Global demand for industrial commodities is giving signals for pick-up with iron and steel, copper and zinc along with products showing a marked improvement in exports in the first five months of the current fiscal, in an otherwise pandemic-hit external trade, an EEPC India analysis has pointed out.

While the overall engineering exports from India dropped by 18.73 per cent during April-August, 2020-21, iron and steel saw a huge jump of 43.7 per cent over the same period of the last fiscal. Exports of iron and steel during this period went up from USD 3.7 billion for the five - month period of 2019-20 to USD 5.3 billion in the corresponding months of the current financial year.

Likewise, copper and products witnessed a bump-up of 60.3 per cent from USD 313 million to 501.7 million during the same period. Similarly, zinc and products registered a big rise of 43.6 per cent from USD 223.3 million to USD 320.7 million.

However, when it comes to value-added products of iron and steel, the shipments witnessed a sharp drop of 29.7 per cent from USD 2.9 billion to USD 2.04 billion.

''No doubt, the overall exports market remains very challenging as the Covid-19 continues to rage the world at a heavy economic and human cost. However, the early signals point towards pick-up in industrial activity in select countries, mostly in North Asia," EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai said. However, he cautioned that overall the engineering exports continue to remain in the negative territory, except the critical basic metals.

On a cumulative basis, the decline in engineering exports was 18.73 per cent during the first five months of fiscal 2020-21. Cumulative engineering exports during April - August 2020-21 were recorded at USD 26 billion as against USD 31.9 billion during the same period last fiscal. As many 28 out of 33 product panels exhibited a year-on-year decline in exports.