Mumbai, India: The Indian agrochemical industry expects an
uptick in export revenue next fiscal after suffering slowdown in
two successive fiscals caused by lower usage of agrochemicals
by farmers in key export markets like Latin America on the back
of unrem unerated pr ices for ag ri produce.
Latin American nations, which account for large exports from
Indian agrochemical firms, reported a fall in growth rate to 4%
against 10% growth repor ted earlier. This has led to higher
inventory levels of ag rochemicals in those markets.
With agro-commodity prices looking up in Latin American markets,
coupled with fall in exports from China, sectoral analysts now expect a
growth of 10-14% in export revenues for Indian agrochemical sector next
fiscal. Further, new product launches could help in improved business
volumes. India is the fourth largest global producer of agrochemicals after
the US, Japan and China with an industry size of around $4.9 billion in
FY17 with exports accounting for nearly half of it, says rating agency
Icra. Latin American markets, which account for nearly a third of Indian
agrochemical exports, suffered slowdown in both the last fiscal and
ongoing fiscal, said Rahul Veera, assistant vice-president, Elara Capital.
This, he said, was mainly due to low agro-commodity prices arising out
of a deflationary trend in the global markets.
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