An assessment of export competitiveness of Indian Groundnut

Groundnut is an economically significant legume cultivated across the globe for food, edible oil and bio-fuel purpose. It is a rich source of protein and energy providing livelihood to millions of farmers. Consumed in different forms, the crop has potential to reduce the country's edible oil imports as well as to earn foreign currencies through exports. Thus, it improves India's balance of trade. As an oilseed, groundnut has high nutritional value along with flavor. Over the years since independence the crop has lost its significance which is evident from overall negative growth rate in all three variables i.e. area, production and productivity. Apart from declining growth rates the crop has also experienced high variations which is reflected from high instability rates in all the variables. India is one of the leading peanut exporter nation exporting 6.38 lakh tonnes in 2020 21. The major importers of Indian groundnut are Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Russia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Nepal. Among the top five peanut exporting nations, India ranks first in all the indices of relative competitiveness, demonstrating country's potential to export more building a strong position in global groundnut market. To improve the status of groundnut in world as well as domestic market, production and yield need to be boosted along with proper marketing strategy to compete with other leading exporters.