The exports of engineering goods to China in 2022-23 fell 52.4 per cent year-on-year to $2.63 billion from $5.53 billion in the previous year.During the fiscal, engineering exports declined 4.57 per cent to $107.04 billion after reaching their all-time high at $112.16 billion during fiscal 2021-22.

"The decline was a direct result of the depressed global demand, especially in the metal sector. In general 2022-23 has been a difficult year for the global trade. While the end of 2021-22 marked the recovery from the Covid pandemic, it was soon overshadowed by the Russia-Ukraine crisis which dented the European and Central Asian economies to a significant extent," EEPC India chairman Arun Kumar Garodia said.

He said “the sharp decline in engineering exports to China could be attributed to frequent lockdowns in several cities there as part of zero-Covid policy, supply chain disruption, drop in iron and steel shipments and weak demand. The Chinese economy also slowed down in 2022 and its ripple effect was felt across the world. The high commodity prices also contributed to the fall in exports. Overall, FY23 was a challenging year amid weak global demand.”

The data showed iron and steel to be the main spoilsport behind the decline with a 41.52 per cent decline in exports during 2022-23 over the previous fiscal. Excluding the iron and steel panel, engineering exports in 2022-23 recorded 4.91 per cent growth over the previous fiscal.

During 2022-23, trade with China declined about 1.5 per cent to $113.83 billion against $115.42 billion in 2021-22.

Exports dipped 28 per cent to $15.32 billion, while imports rose 4.16 per cent to $98.51 billion. Trade gap widened to $83.2 billion against $72.91 billion in 2021-22.