Slump in India's Trade With Gulf Countries, Pharma Exports

These have been expensive.

The Wire Staff

These have been expensive.

slump in india s trade with gulf countries pharma exports

In this image posted on April 9, 2026, Green Asha, an India-flagged LPG vessel that has crossed the Strait of Hormuz, has moored at JNPA's liquid berth operated by BPCL-IOCL, in Maharashtra. Photo: X/@PIBMumbai via PTI.

New Delhi: The West Asia war, triggered by US and Israeli attacks on Iran in February, has devastated India’s trade with the Gulf, a Livemint report has noted.

These updates come as Iran foreign minister Abbas Araghchi announced that the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon.

Exports declined 7.4% year-on-year in March, and imports fell 6.5%, the Livemint report said, quoting commerce ministry data.

It also noted how trade figures with India's top Gulf partners, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iraq, have become a burden to India's overall numbers. The report finds that March 2026 data reveals a 61.9% crash in exports to the UAE and a 45.7% drop to Saudi Arabia. In addition, imports from key Gulf partners plummeted between 37% and 66%.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz and energy infrastructure attacks has severely impacted India’s oil and gas supply, which relies on the region for 40% of its needs.

Relatedly, the Economic Times has reported a sharp decline in India’s pharmaceutical exports, which have hit a five-year low in March due to the same conflict. Noting that the disruption could cause a loss of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 5,000 crore, the report highlighted how astronomical freight surcharges and the shutdown of major logistics hubs led to this crisis.

“Generic drugs were flowing without interruption to the US, Europe and Africa. The industry was on course to close FY26 as one of its strongest years on record. Then in March, the war disrupted the flow,” the report quotes Dinesh Dua, former chairman at Pharmexcil, the industry’s exports promotion council, as having said.

These disruptions have threatened the delivery of temperature-sensitive medicines like vaccines, refrigerated biologics, and oncology drugs, while simultaneously doubling the cost of essential raw materials – from $1,200 to $2,400 per unit – imported from China, the report said.

This article went live on April seventeenth, two thousand twenty six, at forty-six minutes past eight in the evening.

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