India-China trade in Jan-Feb down 12.4% YoY: PRC data

08 Apr '20

2 min read

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India-China trade in January and February was down 12.4 per cent year on year (YoY), according to Chinese official data. The novel coronavirus epidemic peaked in China during these months. China's exports to India during this period stood at 67.1 billion yuan, down by 12.6 per cent YoY, while imports from India dropped by 11.6 per cent to 18 billion yuan.

India and China are likely to discuss steps and explore measures to boost bilateral trade as the process has been significantly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, according to Indian media reports.

The knock-on effect of the pandemic is expected to disrupt trade in agricultural markets across the Indo-Pacific region, including China. Global prices of goods like cotton will be affected in the second half of 2020 if virus continues to spread, experts say.

According to official Indian data released in February, India’s trade with China decreased from $89.71 billion in 2017-18 to $87.07 billion in 2018-19. During this period, India’s imports from China declined to $70.32 billion in 2018-19 from $76.38 billion in 2017-18, and exports to the country grew to $16.75 billion in 2018-19 from $13.33 billion in 2017-18. As a result, India’s trade deficit with China reduced to $53.57 billion from $63.05 billion.

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