Some industrial commodities such as copper, zinc, iron and steel showed signs of recovery even as the export of engineering goods declined over 18 per cent to $26 billion in the April-August period of the current financial year.

The export of iron and steel jumped 43.7 per cent to $5.3 billion during April-August from $3.7 billion in the corresponding five-month period of 2019-20, EEPC India chairman Mahesh Desai said in a statement.

Shipment of copper and its products soared 60.3 per cent to $501.7 million from $313 million during the same period a year ago. Similarly, the export of zinc and its products rose 43.6 per cent to $320.7 million from $223.3 million .

However, the shipment of the value-added products of iron and steel witnessed a sharp drop of 29.7 per cent to $2.04 billion from $2.9 billion.

“No doubt, the overall export market remains very challenging. However, the early signals point towards a pick-up in industrial activity in select countries, mostly in north Asia,” Desai said.

Exports of engineering goods declined to $26 billion in the April- August period of the current fiscal compared to the shipment of such goods was at $31.9 billion in the first five months of the previous fiscal. According to the council, 28 of 33 product categories showed a year-on-year fall in exports.

However, he cautioned that overall the engineering exports continue to remain in the negative territory, except the critical basic metals.