Factors Influencing Export of Soya Bean Oil from India: A Panel Gravity Model Analysis

Abstract

Soya bean, the ‘miracle bean’, belongs to the family Leguminoceae, subfamily Papilionoidea. Soya bean oil is one of the most widely consumed cooking oils and is rich in linolenic acid. In the past 20 years the export of soya bean oil from India was mainly focused on Bhutan, Jordan, Canada, Singapore and Myanmar. The data was collected from 2002-03 to2021-22. The sources of data were Food and Agriculture Organization Statistics (FAOSTAT), Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Statista and Trade map. The panel data was estimated by the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) method. For soya bean oil the per capita GDP of India's trading partners, distance, trade openness, and exchange rates are the most significant factors affecting bilateral trade. While partner countries' prosperity and liberal trade policies boost trade, greater distances and unfavorable exchange rates hinder it. India's GDP and domestic inflation show minimal impact on trade flows. Wooldridge test indicated no first-order auto-correlation.