Page 24 - Trade

India, UAE conclude meeting on India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor

The first inter-ministerial delegation from India held meetings from May 15-17 under the Intergovernmental Framework Agreement between the two countries concerning cooperation for the empowerment and operation of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC).According to the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi press release, the IMEEC will provide effective alternate supply routes generating efficiencies and reducing costs. Indian Ambassador to UAE Sunjay Sudhir led the discussions with key entities like DP World UAE, AD Ports Group and UAE's Federal Customs Authority."The Indian delegation comprised of senior officials from Ministry of Shipping, Ports & Waterways, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Central Board of Excise and Customs and Deendayal Upadhyay Port, Kandla," the press release stated."They visited Khalifa Port, Fujairah Port and Jebel Ali Port where they held detailed discussions with the respective Port authorities for facilitating the movement of goods between ...

Spice export may fall 40% if EtO contamination issue not resolved: FISS

The Federation of Indian Spice Stakeholders (FISS) on Friday said India's spice export may decline nearly 40 per cent in FY25 if the issue of ethylene oxide or EtO contamination in spices meant for exports is not addressed at the earliest. The statement came against the backdrop of Hong Kong and Singapore banning the sale of popular brands MDH and Everest after detecting carcinogenic chemical ethylene oxide in their products, leading to a mandatory recall from shelves. In 2023-24, India's spice exports totalled USD 4.25 billion, accounting for 12 per cent share of global spice exports. "Lot of exporters have orders on their hands and they have been halted to an extent after that episode. As per our estimate, spice exports could be affected by 40 per cent of the volume this year if the issue is not resolved quickly," said Tejas Gandhi, Secretary of FISS, an association of nearly 600 spice traders, exporters and farmers from across the country. Addressing a press conference on the .

Spike in trade with Russia not a 'temporary phenomenon': EAM Jaishankar

"For long, we have looked at Russia from a political or security perspective," Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said at an industry conference

Bullying tariff hike shows some in US are losing their minds, says China

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled steep tariff increases on Chinese imports including electric vehicle (EV) batteries, computer chips and medical products

India-UK FTA: Work in progress to resolve issues, says commerce ministry

Senior officials of India and the UK held negotiations last month on the outstanding issues of the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) and the work is in progress to iron out the differences. According to the commerce ministry, the Indian team visited London from April 16-19 for negotiations. "The teams have made good progress and work is in progress in resolving pending issues. Chapter-wise textual negotiations are nearly closed and schedules on goods and services are at an advanced stage of negotiations," the ministry said. The ministry, however, did not disclose further details. So far, 13 rounds of talks have been completed. The 14th round started in January. There are 26 chapters in the agreement, including goods, services, investments, and intellectual property rights. The Indian industry is demanding greater access for its skilled professionals from sectors like IT and healthcare in the UK market, besides market access for several goods at nil customs duty. On the other h

Palm oil imports jump 34% to 684,000 tonnes in April on lower global prices

India's palm oil imports registered a 34.11 per cent jump on-year in April to 6,84,000 tonnes, buoyed by a fall in global prices, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said on Tuesday. Palm oil accounted for 52 per cent of India's total edible oil imports of 13,04,409 tonnes in April, the trade body said in a statement, adding that sunflower and soybean oils import stood at 6,20,315 tonnes. Including non-edible oils, overall vegetable oil imports rose 26 per cent in April to 13,18,528 tonnes compared to 10,50,189 tonnes a year ago, it said. Bearish global prices encouraged higher imports of refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palmolein and crude palm oil (CPO), which declined by nearly USD 100 a tonne last month, SEA said. Soybean oil prices fell USD 40 per tonne globally, while the sunflower oil rate dropped just USD 15 a tonne over the last month, it added. Among palm oils, RBD palmolein imports climbed to 1,24,228 tonnes as against 1,12,248 tonnes in the year-ag

Next round of talks for India-Asean trade agreement review in July

Senior officials of India and the 10-nation bloc of Southeast Asian nations - ASEAN - will hold the next round of talks in July to review the existing free trade agreement in Jakarta, Indonesia, an official statement said on Sunday. The last round of the three-day negotiations concluded on May 9 in Putrajaya, Malaysia. The discussions for review of AITIGA (Asean-India Trade in Goods Agreement) started in May 2023 to make it more trade-facilitative and beneficial for businesses across the region, the commerce ministry said. A joint committee, which is undertaking the review work, has so far met four times. It has finalised its terms of reference and the negotiating structure for the review in its first two meetings and initiated talks for the review from its third meeting, which was held on February 18-19 here. "The fourth Joint Committee meeting for the review of AITIGA was held in Putrajaya, Malaysia from 7-9 May," the statement said. The committee was co-chaired by Rajesh Agraw

Panama Canal in talks with US LNG producers to increase transportation

The canal is typically used by US Gulf Coast exporters to send LNG cargoes to Asia via the Pacific Ocean, but from last year low water levels forced cuts to daily crossings

Decision on resumption of sugar exports months away, says food secy

"It is still early days," Sanjeev Chopra, India's Secretary of Food and Public Distribution, told reporters on the sidelines of the Citi ISO Datagro Sugar Conference in New York

Govt allows pea import of consignments with bill of lading issued till Oct

Import of yellow peas is allowed after registration under the import monitoring system for all consignments where bill of lading (shipped on board) is issued on or before October 31, according to a commerce ministry notification. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said the import is permitted without the MIP (Minimum Import Price) and port restriction conditions. "Import of yellow peas...is free without the MIP condition and without port restriction, subject to registration under online Import Monitoring System, with immediate effect for all import consignments where Bill of Lading (shipped on board) is issued on or before October 31, 2024," the DGFT notification said. During April-December this fiscal, the import of yellow peas stood at USD 5.43 million. It was USD 0.14 million in 2022-23.

Govt allows export of 14,000 tn of non-basmati white rice to Mauritius

The government on Monday permitted exports of 14,000 tonnes of non-basmati white rice to Mauritius. The export is permitted through National Cooperative Exports Limited (NCEL), the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. Though exports of non-basmati white rice have been banned since July 20, 2023 to boost domestic supply, exports are allowed on the basis of permission granted by the government to certain countries to meet their food security needs on request. "Export of 14,000 MT of non-basmati white rice to Mauritius has been permitted through NCEL," it said. Earlier, India has allowed exports of the commodity to African nations including Tanzania, Djibouti and Guinea-Bissau. Besides, export of non-basmati white rice was permitted to countries like Nepal, Cameroon, Cote D' Ivore, Guinea, Malaysia, Philippines, and Seychelles. NCEL is a multi-state cooperative society. It is jointly promoted by some of the leading cooperative societies in the country,

India, Australia to speed up trade deal after Lok Sabha elections

India, Australia trade deal may include deeper market access and outcomes in digital trade & goods

Centre imposes 40% duty on export of onions with effect from May 4

The government on Friday imposed a 40 per cent duty on export of onions. It also exempted duty on the import of desi chana till March 31, 2025. Besides, it has extended the duty exemption on imports of yellow peas covered by the bill of entry issued on or before October 31, 2024. In a notification, the finance ministry said the changes would be effective from May 4. Currently, the export of onion is banned. However, the government allows shipments to India's friendly nations. It has permitted a specified quantity of onion exports to UAE and Bangladesh. In August last year, India had imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onions up to December 31, 2023.

India's services exports decline marginally in March to $30 billion

India's services exports declined 1.3 per cent in March to USD 30 billion while imports fell by 2.1 per cent to USD 16.61 billion, showed Reserve Bank data released on Thursday. As per RBI's data on India's international trade in services, the trade surplus during March 2024 was USD 13.4 billion. Both exports and imports of services were in positive zone in the preceding two months. According to the commerce ministry data, the services export during fiscal 2023-24 is estimated at USD 339.62 billion and imports at USD 177.56 billion. The trade surplus or difference between exports and imports works out to be USD 162 billion during the year. Despite persistent global challenges, overall exports (merchandise and services) are estimated to reach USD 776.68 billion in 2023-24 as compared to USD 776.40 billion in 2022-23.

IEX overall trade volume rises 14% to 9,044 million units in April

The Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) posted 14.1 per cent growth in its overall trade volume at 9,044 million units in April as compared to the year-ago period. The exchange achieved 7,928 MU overall trade volume in April 2023, including green market trade of 280 MU, 1.99 lakh RECs (renewable energy certificates equivalent to 199 MU) and 1.23 lakh ESCerts (energy savings certificates equivalent to 123 MU), as per IEX data. RECs at 618 MU increased 211 per cent YoY (year-on-year). At Rs 204 per certificate, the REC market recorded an all-time low price in the trading session held on April 24, 2024, a statement said. REC prices declined 80 per cent YoY. These prices provide an opportunity to obligated consumers to meet their Renewable Purchase Obligations, and voluntary customers to meet their sustainability aspirations. The Market Clearing Price in Day Ahead Market (DAM) during April 2024 at Rs 5.1/unit reduced approximately 6 per cent year-on-year. The sell bids on the exchange (Day

India, New Zealand look to boost collaboration in pharma, digital trade

India and New Zealand are looking to increase collaboration in goods and services sectors like pharmaceuticals, digital trade, and cross-border payment systems to promote bilateral trade. Issues to promote trade through these collaborations were discussed during the recent visit of Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal to New Zealand from April 26-27. The commerce ministry said that huge potential is there in both economies to further promote bilateral trade. "The meetings reviewed progress on market access issues, economic cooperation projects and explored opportunities for new initiatives," it said. Both sides discussed the establishment of robust bilateral economic dialogue architecture and the creation of working groups in sectors like Agriculture, Food Processing, Storage and Transportation, Forestry and Pharmaceuticals to facilitate ongoing collaboration on key trade and economic issues. Deliberations also included increasing cooperation in kiwi fruit as well as the dairy ...

India, Maldives hold talks to enhance bilateral trade cooperation

India on Wednesday said it looked forward to strengthening bilateral economic cooperation with the Maldives as its envoy held discussions with a senior minister of the archipelagic nation. Mohamed Saeed, Maldives' Minister of Economic Development and Trade, met with Munu Mahawar, Indian High Commissioner to the archipelago nation on Tuesday. The meeting comes weeks after India allowed the export of certain quantities of essential commodities for the year 2024-25 at the request of the Maldivian government and ahead of the May 10 deadline imposed by President Mohamed Muizzu for the complete repatriation of 88 Indian military personnel from his country. Minister @em_saeed met with Indian High Commissioner to Maldives, H. E. Munu Mahawar, and discussed potential areas for trade & economic cooperation. @HCIMaldives, posted Maldives' Ministry of Economic Development and Trade from its official X handle along with photos of the meeting. Soon after, the Indian High Commission responded: ..

Govt unlikely to impose export curbs on low-grade iron ore, says report

China typically accounts for more than 90% of overall shipments of iron ore from India which is the world's fourth-largest producer of the steel-making ingredient

'India, UAE on track to surpass $100 bn non-oil trade target by 2030'

India and UAE trade has increased 15 per cent since the implementation of the free trade agreement in May 2022 and the two countries are on track to surpass the target of USD 100 billion in non-oil trade by 2030, CEPA Council Director Ahmed Aljneibi said on Wednesday. The UAE-India CEPA Council (UICC) was launched on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January. The two countries implemented the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in May 2022. Aljneibi said the UAE-India trading relationship has grown rapidly since the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). "The bilateral trade has increased almost 15 per cent since the CEPA entered into force on 1 May 2022. Our two countries are on track to far surpass the goal of achieving USD 100 billion in non-oil trade by 2030," he said. Aljneibi was speaking at a business roundtable meet in Jaipur. Rajasthan-based enterprises from diverse sectors, including pharmaceuticals, gems and ...

Jane Street saga echoes another warning for retail option traders

In India's derivatives market, where the average daily trading volume has surged nearly two-folds to Rs 440 trillion in just a year, algorithmic trades are not new