The Trade Competitiveness of Indian Processed Cheese

Abstract

Background: The study focuses on India’s trade competitiveness in Cheese and Curd (HS 0406)’. It also gives a global overview of the dairy industry. Over the last two decades, the exports of Indian dairy products have increased tremendously. Milk oil products, cheese and curd, as well as milk powder exports, are the key contributions. Although India’s contribution in global dairy exports is modest, milk oil products, as well as cheese and curd, have seen significant growth in the previous two decades. This study analyses the growth in exports of Indian Processed Cheese over the last two decades and examines the competitiveness and comparative analysis of Indian trade in this product. Methods: All the data were collected during 2019-2020. This study is based on secondary data from the ITC Trade Map for the years 2001 through 2020 and the main tools used to analyze the data were the Linear Growth Model, Instability Index, Unit Price Analysis, Protection Coefficient (NPC) and Comparative Analysis (RCA and RSCA). Result: The key findings reflect on the growth, market share, instability, market competitiveness and comparative analysis of the ‘Processed Cheese’ (HS 040630)’. The findings of the studies concluded that the trade of ‘Processed Cheese’ from India has increased significantly over the last two decades, even though its share of Indian exports remains minimal. Over the last two decades, both the volume of trade and the unit price received per unit for ‘Processed Cheese’ has increased significantly. The NPC, RCA and RSCA analysis revealed that the product was neither competitive nor it is showing comparative advantage for most of the period of consideration.