WTO trade talks collapse after US, China, India reject compromise

GENEVA: Trade officials said Tuesday that a high-level summit to salvage a global trade pact collapsed, after the United States, China and India failed to compromise on farm import rules.

Trade officials from two developed and one emerging country told media that a meeting of seven commercial powers broke up without agreement at the World Trade Organization on Tuesday.

The officials, who demanded anonymity because the news was soon to be announced to a larger meeting of countries, said a U.S. dispute with China and India over farm import safeguards had effectively ended any hope of a breakthrough.

Two officials said WTO chief Pascal Lamy had informed ministers that convergence could not be reached after nine days of talks.

Negotiators were hoping for a deal this week on farm and industrial trade, so that crisis-ridden WTO talks could be saved. They were launched in 2001, but have repeatedly stalled amid deep divisions between rich and poor nations.

Some officials had described this meeting at the WTO's Geneva headquarters as a last chance for the so-called Doha trade round, noting that U.S. and other national elections would make negotiations difficult over the next couple of years.

A number of trade officials described the debate pitting the United States against China and India as one of principle _ and not just hard economics. Others blamed a lack of courage for the standoff.

``It is a jump in the dark,'' Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said before final efforts Tuesday. ``You can't calculate until the very last situation all the hypotheses. If you do that (the round) will never finish. It will take two years, three years. It will probably be for a new generation.''

The issue concerned a ``special safeguard'' developing countries led by China and India have demanded to deal with a sudden surge of imports or drop in prices.

While farm import safeguards currently exist in rich and poor countries, they are rarely used. The dispute over the current proposals concerns the threshold for when developing nations could sharply raise their tariffs, and how high those taxes could rise.

The United States had accused the two emerging powers of insisting on allowances to raise farm tariffs above even their current levels. That violates the spirit of the trade round, the U.S. and other agricultural exporters argued, because it is supposed to help poorer countries develop their economies by boosting their exports of farm produce.

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Spices Board alerts exporters to contamination threat from Vietnam

KOCHI: The Spices Board here, has through a notification, alerted all exporters, manufacturers and other related industries to contamination found by European Union (EU) in whole star anise and Saigon cinnamon, which is imported from Vietnam.

Importers and manufacturing units of curry powders and garam masalas are required to make their imported consignments of whole star anise and Saigon cinnamon free from non-approved food colour, Chrysoidine, to avoid any kind of exports rejection and recall of their consignments.

According to a Spices Board press release issued in Kochi, which stated: in a rapid alert notification, the EU has informed of potential contamination of whole star anise and cinnamon from Vietnamese with a non-approved colour known as Chrysoidine.

The notification issued by the European Commission (Health and Consumers, Directorate - General) recently in Brussels has observed that Chrysoidine is a genotoxic carcinogen, exposure of which to a person's diet will increase the risk of cancer.

It has been informed that there are no analytical methods now available to test this.

This is not a permitted food colour in EU. The notification says that it has received limited intelligence regarding potential contamination of whole star anise (Illicium verum) and Saigon cinnamon known as Vietnamese Cassia (Cinnamomum loureirii) of Vietnamese origin.

The EU notification also states that they had received this information through their normal horizon scanning activities. It also maintained that the intelligence is in relation to consignments destined for Indian market.

Further, it clarified that there is no evidence for this product entering in the food chain in Europe.

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Bureaucratic barriers to Cotton exports

NEW DELHI: In a move that is perceived to be restricting cotton exports, government has made registration of overseas contracts compulsory with the Textile Commissioner in Mumbai.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has asked the customs authorities not to clear shipments unless the export contracts are verified.

Cotton prices have shot up by 42 per cent since January resulting in a high raw material cost for yarn mills.
While the government scrapped cotton import duty on July 8, yielding to the mills demand, prices have not corrected.
A demand has also been made to ban exports, but the Agriculture Ministry is opposed to the ban, which is believed to have the support of the Textile Ministry.

"The contracts for export of cotton will be registered with the Textile Commissioner prior to shipment. Clearance of cotton consignments by Customs should be after verifying that the contracts have been registered," a DGFT notification said.

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), which spearheaded the July 9 strike by yarn mills is happy at the move for compulsory registration of cotton export contracts.

"The association had requested the government for the same. This will help government to keep a watch on the quantity of exports," CITI Secretary General D K Nair said.

"It would act as an enabling procedure for government to take informed policy interventions, if required," Nair said. However, exporters resent the move on the ground that it amounts to creating barriers.

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India to register all cotton export contracts

MUMBAI: Indian cotton exporters will have to register all export contracts with the Textile Commissioner before shipment, director general of foreign trade said in a notification late on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, government took measures to raise local supplies by scrapping import duty on cotton and removing exports incentive.

More measures, including quantitative restriction on exports or fresh duty, were being considered to boost supplies and curb exports, a senior government official had said last week.

Indian exports may jump 72 per cent to touch 10 million bales in the year ending September 2008, compared to a year ago, the official had said.

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Drawback panel gets more time to submit report

New Delhi, July 17 The three-member committee set up by the Government for formulation of all-industry duty drawback rates for 2008-09 has been given more time to submit its report.

Official sources said that the committee had sought extension till August 11 and that has been granted. The drawback rates for exporters are worked out and notified every year after taking into account the budgetary changes in excise duty, customs and service tax.

The all-industry rates of duty drawback are worked out by considering the consumption of input materials and the incidence of duties on these input materials.

Traditionally, the drawback rates are announced in June or latest by July every year.

Sources in the export fraternity said that the surge in inflation has led to hike in raw material costs in many industries.

To add to this knotty issue is the recent depreciation in rupee against the dollar. Both these factors may have prompted the committee to go in for extensive data collection and consultations before announcing the rates, sources added.

Almost 90 per cent of the exporters rely on the all-industry drawback rates. The rates are usually applied only on prospective basis.

Rates may be lower

Exporters have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of the drawback rates for 2008-09 and the expectations are that the rates would be on the lower side compared with last year.

In March, the Finance Ministry had constituted a three-member committee for the formulation of all-industry duty drawback rates.

The Committee comprised Mr Saumitra Chaudhuri, Member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council; Mr S.B. Mohapatra, Secretary to the Government of India (retired); and Mr T.R. Rustagi, Chief Commissioner of Central Excise and Customs (retired).

Under the duty drawback scheme administered by the Revenue Department, the customs and central excise duty paid on inputs and service tax paid on input services used in the manufacture of export goods are refunded to the exporters in the form of duty drawback.

Budget 2008-09 had seen wide ranging changes in excise duties, including a general reduction in the Cenvat rate from 16 to 14 per cent. There were also changes in customs duties.

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DCGI may extend pharma export licence tenure

NEW DELHI: Hurdles faced by pharmaceutical companies while accessing global markets may ease now. The drug regulator’s office is likely to extend the tenure of export licence and other approvals from one year to at least three years. The move is expected to help many pharma companies that export huge quantities by reducing compliance cost.

The industry has also approached the drug regulator to increase the tenure of another certificate that importing countries insist on –– the certificate of pharmaceutical product (COPP) –– to a minimum of five years. The drug controller general of India (DCGI), who looks after the safety and efficacy of drugs and gives marketing approval, is now looking at increasing the tenure.

“Pharmaceutical exporters have been experiencing problems in international markets on account of delays in getting government approvals,” said Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), International Trade, chairman DB Modi.
Currently, in India, companies get a COPP for a period of two years, after which exporters and manufacturers need to go through the process all over again to get their licences and certificates renewed.

The State Food and Drug Administration (FDA) generally issues COPP after a joint inspection of the manufacturing facility by inspectors from the Central Drug Standard Control Authority and State FDA. “Re-inspection is required to get the new COPP, but many a times re-inspection is not possible in time due to various constraints like limited number of staff available,” Mr Modi said.

According to Mr Modi, regulatory authorities in most of the countries do not accept COPP with a remaining validity of 6 months. The industry has, therefore, asked DGCI to ease the process by extending the period of their test licences. The industry has suggested that NOC may be issued for exporting a specified quantity of medicines to a particular country without looking at the time limit. While DCGI is looking into the possibility of issuing consolidated export approval for a longer period, it would also have to look into other aspects so that regulatory issues do not get compromised as import laws differ from country to country.

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Govt mulling export ban on flat steel products, iron ore

New Delhi, July 17 (PTI) Steel industry could be in for another shock with the government now considering banning exports of flat steel products with a view to check rising inflation.

"If the prices of flat steel products are not being kept in check, either the export duty could be increased or a ban on exports could be considered to increase domestic availability," Committee of Secretaries (CoS) observed in its last meeting.

It also noted that the government may consider increasing export duty on long steel products and subsequently explore the possibility of banning iron ore exports to increase domestic availability.

Steel prices have since January this year shot up by around 50 per cent, adding to the double-digit inflation, which is hovering at a 13-year high of just below 12 per cent.

Government had on June 13 exempted flat rolled products of iron and steel, including galvanised products, pipes and tubes that attracted export duty ranging from 5 to 15 per cent ad-valorem, from the purview of the export duty.

The rate of export duty on long products such as bars and rods, angles, shapes, sections and wires was also increased from 10 to 15 per cent and a 15 per cent ad-valorem duty was imposed on iron ore.

The CoS decided that the Ministry of Steel in consultation with Department of Revenue would soon consider suitable measures for increasing the domestic availability of steel and moderating its prices.

The ministry would also consider proposals for implementation in early August when the three-month self- moratorium imposed by major steel producers to hold their priceline expires.

The ministry would quickly undertake an analysis on the options available for moderating the prices of iron ore and submit it for consideration of the company of secretaries during the next meeting, they added. -------PTI

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Import of Indian drugs blocked by Pak govt

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan government has blocked a proposal for importing 400 medicines from India following intense lobbying against the move by the local pharmaceutical industry.

The proposal forwarded by Pakistan's commerce ministry was stalled ahead of an expected hike of upto 40 per cent in the prices of life-saving drugs in the country.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has reportedly issued a direction that no drug produced in Pakistan should be imported. Gilani also sought justification for importing from India 13 vaccines and some oncology drugs that are currently not produced in Pakistan, sources told a newspaper. However, the import of these vaccines and oncology products will continue.

Health Secretary Khushnood Lashari will meet Commerce Secretary Asif Shah to ensure that the proposal for importing Indian drugs is closed. Sources in the commerce ministry had leaked information about the proposal to import Indian drugs to the local pharmaceutical industry, which used its "contacts" to pre-empt the move, the daily said.

Local entrepreneurs contended that the proposed imports would threaten the jobs of over one million people, affect annual exports worth more than $120 million and compromise the availability of medicines during emergencies. Pakistan's pharmaceutical industry is worth Rs 83 billion and enjoys considerable political clout.

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Indian firms begin cotton imports after duty scrap

MUMBAI - Indian firms have contracted imports of 50,000-60,000 bales of cotton in the week to Tuesday after the government set in motion steps to boost domestic supplies, a senior industry official said on Wednesday.

Last Wednesday India scrapped import duty on raw cotton and withdrew export incentives to boost supplies and tame high prices.

"Some import contracts have been made," said P.D. Patodia, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI).

"About 50,000-60,000 bales may have been contracted for imports after the duties were scrapped."

The contracts were mostly for West African cotton done at about 78 cents to 79 cents per pound, said Sandip Jain, a Ahmedabad-based cotton buyer and exporter.

Government measures have helped in increasing supplies and easing prices, Jain said.

"Cotton meant for exports are now being sold in the local markets, which has improved availability. Prices have also started to ease," said CITI's Patodia.

Prices of the popular Shankar variety, which touched a record 28,000 rupees per candy in Gujarat in early July, have eased to 27,000 rupees.

India's cotton exports are likely to touch new highs in the year ending September 2008, which has led to a spike in local prices by almost 35 percent.

Cotton exports may rise 72 percent to touch 10 million bales in the year ending September 2008 compared to a year ago, a senior government officials had said on Tuesday.

On Tuesday a senior official in ministry of textiles said more measures, such as duty on cotton exports or quantitative restrictions, may be considered to increase supplies.

(1 bale=170 kg)

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India resumes rice export to Bangladesh

DHAKA: India has restarted export of rice to Bangladesh, in tune with a promise made by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to the cyclone-affected areas of the country last year.

"Under the agreement 1 lakh 20,674 tonnes of rice were received earlier while another 65,631 tonnes reached the Chittagong Port and is now being unloaded," a food ministry official said.

"Five more ships are expected to carry the rest of the quantum to reach Bangladesh very soon," he added.

The first emergency consignment of rice from India arrived in March this year, the official said.

Mukherjee, while visiting the cyclone battered areas in southwestern coastline in October last year had promised to export five lakh tonnes of rice to Bangladesh relaxing an earlier ban.

A treaty was signed between the two countries for import of the rice through five Indian state-run commercial agencies after finalisation of the modalities.

The food ministry officials said the imported rice would be used to develop a "food safety net" through distribution in official channels.

Production shortfalls caused by subsequent floods and the devastating cyclone and soaring food price in view of a global deficit exposed Bangladesh to a severe crisis earlier this year forcing the interim government to launch a desperate import campaign.

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WTO upholds ruling against US taxes Indian shrimp

GENEVA: US taxes on shrimp imports from Thailand and India are breaking international trade rules, the World Trade Organization ruled on Wednesday, rejecting an appeal from the United States.

The global commerce referee upheld a decision it issued in February.

Governments impose antidumping taxes when they believe their markets are being flooded with below-cost imports. Washington defends how it calculates the fees, but the WTO has consistently ruled that the U.S. excessively taxes foreign goods suspected of dumping.

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Ramesh advocates regulatory regime for tea exports

KOLKATA: A regulatory framework is needed to maintain the quality and quantity of tea exports, Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said on Monday.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of Calcutta Tea Traders Association on Monday, Ramesh said it had come to his notice that some of the exporters, both in public and private sectors, had shipped lesser quantity and sub-standard quality of tea to Iraq.

This was totally unacceptable and undesirable for which the Tea Board had been asked to showcause the exporters, he said, adding that these acts would bring down the image of Indian tea globally and consequently, the country might stand to lose the export market.

In this context, he said, some regulatory framework should be put in place so that these incidents do not repeat.

The Minister's contention was contradicted by Calcutta Tea Traders Association Vice-Chairman Gopal Poddar, saying that the exporters were not getting payments from importers in Iraq.

"It is becoming very difficult to get payments even after 12 or 15 months have passed after shipment," Poddar said.

He alleged that the price quoted by Iraqi importers for India

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No plans to cut or ban import duty: Pillai

NEW DELHI: Government is not planning to slash import duty on cotton or ban its exports as demanded by the textile industry for boosting supplies and easing prices in the domestic market.

"At the moment, there is no plan to cut the import duty on cotton," Commerce Secretary Gopal Pillai said.

At present, there is a 10 per cent customs duty and four per cent import tax on cotton.

He also ruled out any plans to ban cotton exports as being demanded by textile mills since cotton prices in the global market were ruling lower than those in the country.

There is no point in banning exports at a time when the international prices are lower than the domestic prices, he said. The domestic cotton textiles industry has been demanding duty-free import of cotton to boost supplies and bring down prices that have increased by over 35 per cent in the last one year across varieties.

While the prices of Punjab cotton have shot up by 60 per cent, those of Gujarat variety increased by about 50-55 per cent.

According to the Confederation of Indian Textile Industries, India has exported about 85 lakh bales of cotton, which can go up to 100 lakh bales in the next 3-4 months.

Pillai added that the Commerce Ministry is holding discussions with the Textile Ministry to work out plans to help the labour-intensive sector.

The textile industry, one of the worst hit by the over 13 per cent rupee appreciation last year as well as rising input costs, has witnessed 3.5 lakh job losses this year.

"Textiles is a cause of worry. We are now trying to see what we can do," Pillai said.

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Indian entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka flouting spirit of FTA

Mumbai, July 1 Some of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) the country has got into in recent years have resulted in unintended adverse consequences, primarily because of non-application of mind at the time of negotiations and signing of the agreement as also lackadaisical enforcement of rules subsequently.

For instance, agreements with Nepal and Sri Lanka, as everyone knows, opened the floodgates to import of low-priced vanaspati that hurt the domestic vanaspati industry and contributed to closure of scores of units. No amount of representation and persuasion by the industry moved the Government, which perhaps wanted to display a big brother attitude.

With the recent withdrawal of basic customs duty on import of crude vegetable oils of edible grade, vanaspati imports from Sri Lanka under the FTA have all but evaporated.

Ironically, several Indian entrepreneurs had invested in Sri Lanka for production of vanaspati and successfully lobbied to keep the policy unchanged for more than three years. They reaped enormous profits in the process.

Flouting rules

It may also be pertinent to point out that the tiny island country Sri Lanka does not domestically produce enough raw material for production of 3 lakh tonnes of vanaspati. The raw material, palm oil, is imported from either Malaysia or Indonesia, duty-free. In other words, the spirit of the FTA in terms of rules of origin and value addition was flouted brazenly.

Indian businessmen who find themselves jobless in Sri Lanka (after India announced zero-duty crude oil import) have now opened a new gambit. They have begun to lobby that India should allow import of ‘refined palmolein’ from Sri Lanka at zero-duty.

Currently, on import of refined oils, including refined palmolein, there is 7.5 per cent customs duty. Again, ironically, Sri Lanka does not produce any palm oil, much less refined palmolein.

Danger zone

The game-plan is clear. Out-of-work Indian businessmen in Sri Lanka will simply purchase refined palmolein from Malaysia and bring it over to India at zero-duty. It is not impossible to fudge documents to show that the oil comes to India from Sri Lanka.

There is great danger if the government succumbs to pressure from this group of Indian businessmen operating from Sri Lanka. Most unfortunately, some of these are known to have strong political affiliations. There are whispers that this group has the tacit support of a high profile union minister.

If permitted, refined palmolein imports at zero-duty would directly hurt processing units in the southern region.

Refineries operating in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are sure to turn sick as large-scale refined oil arrivals from Sri Lanka will have a most immediate impact on units in the south.

Kerala impact

The coconut oil trade in Kerala too will be affected. Palm oil imports into the State’s ports have already been prohibited. But opening the floodgates of zero-duty is sure to depress coconut oil prices.

There is absolutely no warrant to have policies that will distort the market and create arbitrary winners and losers. There has to be a level-playing field for all.

If need be, in order to rein-in high prices and augment supplies, the customs duty on refined oils should be reduced to zero for all categories of importers. But to selectively favour without merit Indian businessmen in Sri Lanka would be suicidal.

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Basmati rice exporters seek early notification of Pusa 1121

New Delhi, July 2 More than a month after the Agriculture Ministry had brought evolved basmati rice varieties into the definition of basmati rice for export purposes, the lack of follow-up notification by the authorities till date has baffled rice exporters with substantial stakes in this variety.

The All-India Rice Exporters Association has unanimously endorsed the Agriculture Ministry’s recent definition of basmati rice including evolved varieties. The Association President, Mr Vijay Sethia, told here that the Punjab State Variety Approval Committee at Ludhiana and Punjab Agricultural University had recognised Pusa 1121 variety as basmati rice recently.

Farm scientists from ICAR contend that this variety would help in safeguarding the country’s food security.

This is not low-priced rice but a premium variety that fetches $2,000 to $2,400 a tonne in the overseas markets. Second, citing trade estimates, the sources in the industry say export of basmati rice has gone up from 7.71 lakh tonnes in 2003 to an estimated 14 lakh tonnes in 2008, even as the land for cultivation of notified and non-notified basmati varieties has barely grown by 2.8 per cent in these years.

After farmers increasingly went in for evolved basmati rice like Pusa 1121, they utilised 1.12 acres of land to produce one tonne of basmati rice, unlike in the past when two acres of land produced one tonne of basmati rice.
Calling for recognition

They argue that if Pusa 1121 were not introduced, the increasing export demand for basmati would have shifted large tracts of land from non-basmati rice cultivation to basmati in the absence of competitive minimum support price in comparison to dynamic basmati economics that gave more than assured returns.

But the advent of Pusa 1121 has also abated and addressed food security concerns as land for production of ordinary and non-basmati rice was not abridged. The sources further caution that if farming of Pusa 1121 is not appreciated by way of due recognition and notification, the basmati rice farmers would be compelled to adopt low-yielding notified basmati rice varieties, which might encroach upon non-basmati rice land too.

Mr Sethia said in the last three years evolved basmati rice has accounted for 60 per cent of basmati production and exports and except in the European Union where traditional basmati rice was dominating because of duty concessions, “the future of basmati rice of India lies with Pusa 1121 only because it uses less water, fetches maximum returns to growers and leaves consumers happy by retaining the essential features of basmati rice”.
Notification delay

When contacted about the delay in the notification of Pusa 1121 for export purposes after the definitional change was made, the Commerce Secretary, Mr Gopal K. Pillai, has said: “We have left the notification for the Agriculture Ministry” to decide.

However, Secretary, Department of Food and PDS, Mr T. Nanda Kumar, said his Ministry was steadfast in its stance that “low-priced rice” should not be exported and “we have no problem in exporting Pusa 1121 as long as you certify that it is an evolved basmati variety” and the total rice export does not exceed certain prescribed limits in the overall interest of the country’s food security.

He said the kharif crop outcome by October 2008 “holds the key for any relaxation of policy ban on rice export as we have to maintain a tricky balance” on the food front at this juncture.

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New EU GSP will have an impact on India's export: MCC

KOLKATA: "The proposed EU GSP to be operational from 2009 asks for greater value addition that would have a direct

impact on Indian export to European countries including to Italy," Merchant Chamber of Commerce President Anupam Shah

said here today at an interactive session with Ambassador of Italy to India, Antonio Armellini.
"Though we have not yet gone through the draft document yet, EU is trying to increase the value addition from the present level

by 10 to 12 per cent depending on products," he said.

Shah said quantifying the impact was difficult, but it could be 10 to 15 per cent. Among the products exported to Europe that

likely to face the heat are, textiles, garments, engineering, leather and marine goods.

EU is also levying other non-tariff barriers among which the latest was carbon tax, Shah said.
Shah and Armellini were both apprehensive about trade growth between Indian and Italy due to global slowdown.
Bilateral trade in 2007 was up by about 40 per cent over 2006. "Under these circumstances I feel bilateral trade growth was

likely to come down to 20-25 per cent," Shah said.

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Indian basmati set to enter China, Mexico

NEW DELHI: Indian basmati rice will shortly enter the kitchens in China and Mexico. At present, basmati is exported to over 130 countries, and the government hopes to tap the huge markets of China and Mexico in a couple of years.

"India's export of basmati is increasing 20 to 30 percent every year," said A.K. Gupta, advisor, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India's official agri-product export promotion agency.
"In terms of quality, flavour and taste, our product continues to get preference over that of the rival exporting country," he said, referring to Pakistan.

"Efforts are on to expand the market worldwide," Gupta told said.

Some of the major importers of India's basmati rice are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, the UK, the US, Yemen, Canada, Iran, Germany, Oman, South Africa, France, Syria, Belgium, Australia and Germany.

India's share in the global market for basmati rice is about 53 percent and efforts like buyer-seller meets, mounting trade delegations abroad are afoot to expand the consumer base.

"In a couple of years, we hope to carve a niche for basmati rice in China and Mexico as well," Gupta said, adding that China held huge prospects for Indian basmati.

As a trial, India had exported 54 tonnes of basmati to China in 2006-07.

Over the past few years, India's export of basmati jumped from 848,919 tonnes to 1.05 million tonnes in 2006-07.
The country had exported 597,793 tonnes in 1998-99.

The government has set a production of target of 129 million tonnes of basmati and non-basmati rice by 2011-12 on a growth rate of 3.7 percent along with other foodgrains.

"Four years down the road, India needs to increase rice productivity by over 40 million tonnes per year, something which is feasible," said an agriculture ministry official.

"In 2006-07, consumption of rice was 88.25 million tonnes. As per the fourth advance estimates on July 19, 2007, the production of rice was over 92 million tonnes. In April 2008, rice production went up to 95.68 million tonnes," the official added.

In a bid to rein in inflation, currently soaring at 11.42 percent, the Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) March 31 increased maximum export price (MEP) for basmati rice to $1200 per tonne, a move the official said would have little impact on the export of basmati rice.

Among foodgrains, basmati and non-basmati rice is the staple source of foreign currency revenue.

For instance, the government exported basmati worth about Rs.200 billion and non-basmati rice worth Rs.294 billion, against pulses worth Rs.6.52 billion during April-December 2006.

The export of wheat during the same period was worth around Rs.340 million.

APEDA data shows Saudi Arabia imported 499,584 tonnes of basmati rice and Kuwait 109,067 tonnes in 2006-07. India exported 104,998 tonnes to the UAE during the same period.

Though in a small quantity, Indian basmati rice has also found lovers in Uganda, Angola, Congo, Botswana, Fiji, Ghana, Cameroon, Chile, Romania, Zambia and Surinam.

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US cuts trade benefits for India, Brazil

WASHINGTON: Gold necklaces from India, an alloy from Brazil and 23 other developing country products will no longer receive US duty-free treatment, the US Trade Representative's office said on Monday. The decision was the result of an annual review of the Generalized System of Preferences, a program created in 1974 that allows 132 developing countries to export nearly 5,000 products to the United States without paying tariffs.

The United States imported $30.8 billion worth of goods under the GSP program in 2007. As a result of the latest review, 25 products that accounted for about $1.4 billion of the 2007 imports will no longer receive duty-free treatment, USTR said.

Partly because of frustration with India and Brazil's role in the Doha round of world trade talks, Congress passed tougher criteria for the GSP program in December 2006. Lawmakers such as Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said they were annoyed India and Brazil received duty-free treatment under the program but were refusing in the Doha round to open their own markets to more imported goods.

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Bangladesh exports garments to India duty free for first time

DHAKA: Bangladesh has exported garments to India for the first time under a duty-free access deal seen as a breakthrough for the country's fast-growing textile industry, an official said on Monday.

Neighbours Bangladesh and India signed the deal last September, allowing Dhaka to annually export eight million garments duty-free across the border, an agreement hailed by New Delhi as a "milestone" in trade relations.

"Our companies have for the first time in history shipped garments to India this month under a duty-free access deal," said Anwar-ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez, president of Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

"We've exported a small quantity, but it's a giant leap for the industry. It is projected that India's ready-made garments market would top 100 billion dollars by 2012. Our target is to get a slice of this huge market," he added.

Bangladesh, which has a two-billion-dollar trade gap with India, last year exported more than nine billion dollars of textiles, mainly to the United States and the European Union.

The country's textile export market is growing rapidly, spurred by a weak Bangladeshi currency and a sharp increase in production costs in China and Vietnam, its main global rivals.

The improvement in trade relations comes against a backdrop of sometimes tense relations between the neighbours.
India helped Bangladesh win independence from Pakistan in 1971 but ties in recent years have often been soured by border skirmishes for which both sides blame the other.

Indian officials regularly accuse Bangladesh of harbouring militants fighting New Delhi's rule in India's far-flung northeast.

Dhaka denies the charge and says New Delhi allows Bangladeshi criminals to take refuge on its soil.

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India replaces China as top exporter to Bangladesh

DHAKA: India has regained its position as the number one import source for Bangladesh, beating China, in the first nine months of the financial year ending June 30, official figures said.

This is mainly due to large-scale imports of rice and onion from India after Bangladesh faced a series of natural calamities last year.

Besides, analysts said, India, as the current chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), has also gone out of its way to woo the least developed countries among the member-nations, of which Bangladesh is one.

China has been the number one import source for Bangladesh during 2005-06 and 2006-07.

"India is set to dominate the Bangladesh market as importers here are shifting from China," a senior commerce ministry official was quoted by the New Age newspaper as saying.

Bangladeshi importers find imports of essentials from the next-door neighbour convenient in many ways, he said.
Bangladesh Bank's figures showed the country imported Chinese goods worth $2,292.12 million during July-March of the current fiscal year that ends this month-end.

The amount was 15 percent of the country's total imports during the period.

But imports from India figured $2,454.83 million or 16 percent of overall imports.

Bangladesh imported $14.64 billion in merchandises in the nine months between last July and March this year.
Food items, especially rice, onions and fresh fruits accounted for the bulk of imports from India.

Traders said surging inflation in India and China were pushing up prices of imports from these two Asian giants, which account for more than 30 percent of Bangladesh's imports.

Indian annual inflation rose to a 14-year high of 11.42 percent for the week ended June 14, while Chinese annual price inflation hit 7.7 percent in May, a 12-year high.

Bangladeshi imports from India amounted to $2,226 million in 2006-07 fiscal year, against $2,537 million-worth imports from China during the same period.

In 2005-06 fiscal, Bangladesh imported Indian goods worth $1,846.91 million while imports from China stood at $2,050.99 million. Once again, the two countries shared about 30 percent of Bangladesh's total annual imports that year.

Until the 2004-05 fiscal, India had been traditionally the biggest source of Bangladesh's imports, mainly foods and raw materials for many industries, including apparels.

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India to ratify UN pact on international coffee trade

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday gave its approval for signing and ratification of the International Coffee Agreement (IPA), 2007 which aims to strengthen global co-operation in coffee trade. IPA is a United Nations pact establishing the International Coffee Organisation. It is designed to help stabilise coffee prices globally. “India has significant interest in export of coffee. It would immensely benefit from the membership of ICA,” minister of state in prime minister’s office Prithvi Raj Chavan said after a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs.

IPA 2007 will replace the 2001 agreement, which expires on September 30, 2008. A total of 50 countries are invited to sign the agreement as they recognise the exceptional importance of coffee to their economies. India produces only 4% of the world’s coffee but exports 70-80% of its output. During the first five months of 2008, coffee exports increased by 3.6%.

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At one lakh tonne, mango exports to overshoot target

KOLKATA: Fresh mango exports are likely to go up to 1 lakh tonne this year against an estimated export of 80,000 tonne last year. The growth in the fruit’s export is expected to be driven by Indian mangoes’ growing acceptance in the world market for its quality, opening up of Japan’s market in recent times and resumption of mango export to the US since the middle of last year, after a gap of 17 years.

The export target is slated to be achieved despite a setback in mango production in the western parts of the country with the early onset of monsoon. Mango export orders, which are coming in from the US, Japan, Bangladesh, the Saarc bloc and West Asia, are to be met from the mango crop from the second round of harvest. This was indicated by RK Mandal, assistant general manger, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda).
Participating in an exhibition on mangoes on Thursday in Kolkata, Mr Mandal said 40% of exports stem from West Bengal. However, not all the mangoes being exported originate from the state. So, mango growers in the state should take more initiatives to export home-grown mangoes, especially after the coming up of several important export-enabling infrastructure in the state, he said.

Mohanta Chatterjee, the state minister of food processing industry and horticulture, has asked mango growers of the state to become more active to drive up mango exports from the state. They should also become more aware about adopting the global standards on good management practices (GAP), pre and post-harvest management and can try their luck in organic farming due to high demand for organic mangoes in the world market, said the minister.

West Bengal is traditionally famous for its ‘Malda’ mango, which is still the predominating export variety from the state. However, of late the ‘Lakhanbhog’ variety is gaining acceptance in the UK market. Exporters are also making an attempt to push it to the US market. The state government on its part has also taken initiatives to set up several export-enabling infrastructure, with financial assistance from the Centre and Apeda. As part of the endeavour, a state-of-the-art pack house has been set up at Malda and another is under construction at Barasat.

The perishable cargo centre, built at an investment of Rs 6 crore at the Netaji Subhas International airport in Kolkata, has also become operational.

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Pak promises to expand list of items to be imported from India

NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Thursday promised to enhance the list of items that can be imported from India while making a case for level playing field for trade between the two countries.

"We have the request to increase the positive list... We will certainly be taking a positive view once we take a final position on enhancement of positive list (of trade with India)," Pakistan commerce secretary Syed Asif Shah said while addressing Ficci members here.

Underlining the need for a level playing field with regard to trade between the two countries, he said, even today 30 per cent of tariff lines are in the positive list and covering most of the products.

Quoting a World Bank report, Shah said that trade worth almost $1 billion between India and Pakistan was being routed through other countries. This circumvention of trade, he added, could be avoided to the mutual benefit of both the countries.

Replying questions on facilitating trade through land route, he said, facilities on the Pakistani side were almost ready while India would take about two years to build infrastructure to take load of increased trade.

Shah said a lot of progress have taken place since the beginning of composite dialogue between the two countries three-four years ago.

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Organic spice export may touch Rs 2.6 bln by 2012

MUMBAI: India is likely to export organic spices worth Rs 240 crores to Rs 260 crores by 2012, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The Spices Board will spend Rs 600 million for development of organic spices, especially chilli, turmeric and ginger, V.J. Kurian, chairman, Spices Board, said. India is the world's biggest spices exporter, with exports touching an all-time high of $1.1 billion in 2007/08.

He further said that restrictions on movement of goods through land route have been relaxed and even machinery export is allowed on case to case basis.

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