Contracting for the second straight month, India’s exports shrank a record 60.28 per cent in April to $10.36 billion, mainly on account of the coronavirus lockdown.

Imports plunged 58.65 per cent to $17.12 billion in April, leaving a trade deficit of $6.76 billion against $15.33 billion in April 2019, according to data by the commerce and industry ministry.

This is the lowest trade deficit since May 2016, when it had stood at $6.27 billion.

The country’s exports had declined 34.57 per cent in March 2020.

“The decline in exports has been mainly because of the ongoing global slowdown, which got aggravated because of the current Covid-19 crisis. The latter resulted in large-scale disruptions in supply chains and demand resulting in cancellation of orders,” the ministry said in a statement.

Except iron ore and pharmaceuticals, all the remaining 28 key sectors registered a decline in growth during the month under review.

Gems and jewellery shipments declined 98.74 per cent, followed by leather (-93.28 per cent), petroleum products (-66.22 per cent), engineering goods (-64.76 per cent), and chemicals (-42 per cent).

Oil imports in April were $4.66 billion, which was 59.03 per cent lower compared with the same month last year.

All 30 key imports sectors such as gold, silver, transport equipment, coal, fertiliser, machinery and machine tools posted negative growth during the month.

Non-oil imports fell 58.5 per cent to $12.46 billion in April.

Gold imports stood at $2.83 million against $4 billion in April 2019.