India: Exports fall at the fastest pace in decades in April
Merchandise exports fell 60.3% in year-on-year terms in April, after falling 34.6% in March, amounting to USD 10.4 billion. The decrease in April was the fastest since at least the early 1990s and was due to the coronavirus crisis—particularly, lower demand abroad and production disruptions domestically due to the national lockdown, which began in the final days of March.
The decline in export shipments in April was broad-based across the economy, with 29 out of the 30 major categories of shipments registering falls. Merchandise imports, meanwhile, sank 58.6% year-on-year in April, after dropping 28.7% in March, amounting to USD 17.1 billion.
The merchandise trade deficit narrowed to USD 6.8 billion in April from the USD 15.3 billion shortfall in the same month a year earlier. The 12-month trailing sum of the trade deficit narrowed to USD 144.3 billion in April from 152.9 billion in March.