Engineering exports remained positive for the third straight month in February 2024 despite challenges posed by the Red Sea crisis and a slowdown in some of the key markets, EEPC India chairman Arun Kumar Garodia said.
In February this year, the value of engineering shipments stood at $9.94 billion, registering a growth of 15.9 per cent over the same month last year.
On the back of better performance in the second half of the year, the cumulative engineering exports growth has now turned positive. In the April-February period of the current financial year, engineering exports stand at $98.03 billion compared with $96.48 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The optimism has sprung in the backdrop of moderating global inflation and improving economic growth forecasts of an optimistic outlook for world trade in 2024, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said.
The decline in the value of global trade throughout 2023 was primarily driven by reduced demand in developed nations and trade weaknesses within East Asia and Latin American regions, UNCTAD said in its ‘Global Trade Update’.
Lower commodity prices further contributed to lowering the value of international trade in 2023. In contrast, trade in services saw growth for most of 2023.
An uptick in global trade will help India to increase its exports in 2024. “Projections for 2024 are more optimistic,” the report said, citing moderating global inflation and improving economic growth forecasts which indicate a reversal of the downward trends. Additionally, rising demand for environmental goods should boost trade in 2024. However, it’s important to note that the global trade outlook for 2024 remains subject to significant uncertainties,” UNCTAD said.
