Composition, intensity and competitiveness of agricultural trade between India and ASEAN

An attempt was made to study the current status, composition, intensity and competitiveness of agricultural trade between India and the ASEAN for the period 1995?2014. The results revealed that, more than 10 percent of export and 30?40 percent of import were directed to the ASEAN in comparison to world. Vietnam and Indonesia were found to be major export destination and source of agricultural commodities respectively. The ASEAN continued to be the most preferred trading partner of India with a trade intensity index value of more than two for all the considered years. India had maintained higher trade intensity with Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar compared to Brunei, Cambodia and Lao. India maintained competitiveness in marine products, spices, rice and oilcake meals over China, Australia and USA which are the major agricultural exporters to the ASEAN considered in the study. But, China has emerged as a tough competitor to India in cotton, fruits, vegetable and coffee in the ASEAN market that point out the need of increasing the export competitiveness of the agricultural commodities.