India’s farm exports grew 2.3% year-on-year in 2025-26 (April-March), despite the steep tariffs imposed by the United States President Donald Trump’s administration.

Farm produce shipments were valued at $53.1 billion during the last financial year, up from $52 billion in 2024-25 and marginally below the all-time-high of $53.2 billion for 2022-23.

The 2.3% agri exports growth was higher than the 0.9% increase in India’s overall merchandise exports, from $437.7 billion in 2024-25 to $441.7 billion in 2025-26. The latter figure was also down from the $451.1 billion peak of 2022-23.

The Trump tariffs – 25% effective from August 7 and raised to 50% from August 27, before being cut to 18% on February 10 and 10% on February 24 – hurt key Indian exports to the US.

That included pharmaceuticals (from $9.7 billion in 2024-25 to $8.6 billion in 2025-26) readymade garments ($5.3 billion to $4.8 billion), gold and jewellery ($4.2 billion to $2.8 billion) and leather products ($948.5 million to $887.7 million). Among agri items, the significant drops were of marine products (from $2.7 billion to $2.3 billion), spices ($654.7 million to $578.7 million), basmati rice ($337.1 million to $285.9 million) and processed fruits & vegetables ($274.3 million to $214 million).

Diversification dividends

The US tariff shocks notwithstanding, exports of some agricultural produce – marine products, buffalo meat, coffee and fresh fruits & vegetables – touched record levels in 2025-26 (Table 1).

The value of marine products exports grew by 13.9% to over $8.4 billion. Even as exports to the US fell, that to other countries rose: China ($1.2 billion in 2024-25 to $1.6 billion in 2025-26), Vietnam ($381.8 million to $648.6 million), Japan ($408.5 million to $451.1 million), Belgium ($225.3 million to $376.6 million), Thailand ($311.9 million to $362.2 million), Canada ($196.5 million to $232.2 million), Spain ($204.2 million to $230.3 million), Italy ($175.1 million to $206.5 million), Russia ($130.1 million to $171.5 million), Malaysia ($93 million to $127.7 million) and United Kingdom ($104.1 million to $127.6 million).

Simply put, Indian marine products exporters more than offset the impact of the Trump tariffs on their largest market – US, especially for frozen shrimps and prawns – by augmenting shipments to other destinations.

Having a diversified market also helped buffalo meat exports, whose value soared by 25.6% to $5.1 billion in 2025-26, surpassing the previous record of $4.8 billion in 2014-15.

The main countries to which India’s buffalo meat exports went were Vietnam (from $740.8 million in 2024-25 to $933.9 million in 2025-26), Egypt ($656.1 million to $725 million), Malaysia ($617.5 million to $654.1 million), UAE ($300.4 million to $444.2 million), Saudi Arabia ($317.6 million to $359.3 million), Uzbekistan ($97.1 million to $307 million), Indonesia ($233.1 million to $301.3 million), Iraq ($360 million to $300.1 million), Philippines ($114.7 million to $176.6 million) and Jordan ($83.6 million to $105.5 million).

In quantity terms, India’s buffalo meat shipments were 13.2% up, from 12.5 lakh tonnes (lt) in 2024-25 to 14.2 lt in 2025-26, according to the Department of Commerce data.

Coffee exports from India crossed the $2 billion mark for the first time in 2025-26, nearly trebling from the $720 million of 2020-21. The driver has been high global prices and stocks plunging to historically low levels.

The US Department of Agriculture has projected global ending stocks for 2025-26 at 20.1 million bags, marking a fifth consecutive year of decline. Brazil and Vietnam, the world’s biggest producers of arabica and robusta varieties respectively, have had subpar crops. India mostly exports robusta beans and powder used in instant coffee and espresso blends, with Italy, Germany, Russia, UAE and Belgium being major markets.

India’s fresh fruits & vegetables exports largely comprise grapes, pomegranates, mangoes, bananas, oranges, onion, tomato, potato, green chilli and mixed vegetables. The important markets are UAE, Iraq, Netherlands, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Exports of other big-ticket items – rice (both basmati and non-basmati), spices, tobacco and processed fruits & vegetables – were down compared to their all-time-highs in 2024-25.

India’s agri imports, unlike exports, are confined to a few commodities.

The top item is vegetable oils, with imports at a record 169.4 lt in 2025-26, as against 164.1 lt the previous fiscal. In value terms, though, the $19.5 billion of vegetable oil imports were lower than the $20.8 billion high of 2022-23 (Table 2).

Pulses imports peaked both in quantity (72.6 lt) and value ($5.5 billion) terms during 2024-25, falling to 59.6 lt and $3.6 billion in the fiscal gone by. The high imports reflect India’s lack of self-sufficiency, with domestic production meeting only about 40% of the country’s consumption demand for vegetable oils and 80% in the case of pulses.

The No. 3 agri import item is fresh fruits. In 2025-26, India’s fresh fruits imports were worth over $3.5 billion, against $3 billion the previous fiscal. The largest share was of the US: $1.1 billion in 2024-25 and $1.4 billion in 2025-26. India primarily imports almonds, pistachios, walnuts and other tree nuts (bulk of it from the US), in addition to apples, grapes/raisins, kiwis, figs, pears and dates.

Another commodity that has seen an import surge is raw cotton. India, not long ago, was a huge exporter of this natural fibre, with the shipment values topping $4.3 billion, $3.7 billion and $3.6 billion in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14, respectively.

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But in 2024-25 and 2025-26, its imports of $1.2 billion and $1.9 billion exceeded exports at $809.7 million and $560.7 million, respectively. Thus, India has turned from a net exporter to an importer of raw cotton. That is, again, courtesy of domestic production shortfalls, with no new yield-enhancing technologies after Bt cotton.

In spices, India has become a substantial exporter of chilli, cumin, mint, turmeric, coriander, ginger, fennel, oleoresins and curry powder/paste, while also a net importer of traditional plantation spices such as pepper and cardamom.

Narrowing surplus

The accompanying chart shows India’s farm exports coming down after 2013-14 and remaining below those levels till 2020-21. There was a recovery thereafter, with exports at $50 billion-plus in most years from 2021-22.

On the other hand, imports have been registering a rising trend, barring for a brief period from 2018-19 to 2020-21. As a result, the surplus – exports minus imports – has dipped from $27.7 billion in 2013-14 to $12.7 billion in 2025-16.

In other words, India continues to be a surplus trader of agricultural produce, as opposed to running deficits in other merchandise goods. Even that surplus, however, has been narrowing over time.