Export-Import | Business Upturn

Japan’s exports and imports in Fiscal Year 2021 highest since 1979

United News of India (UNI) — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 06:33:52 +0000

Tokyo, April 20: Japan’s exports and imports in fiscal year 2021. Which ended on March 31, have reached their highest figures on record since 1979. The Japanese Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. According to the ministry’s data, imports increased by 23.6% year-on-year. And reached 85.8 trillion yen ($667 billion). Imports of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG), in particular, increased by 97.6% and 58.8%, respectively. Japan boosted imports from countries such as Australia (an increase of 77.3%), Belgium (an increase of 126.8%), Spain (an increase of 114.6%), Saudi Arabia (an increase of 140.1%), Kuwait (an increase of 100.3%), and Russia (an increase of 68.5%).

As well as the African region (an increase of 77.3%). Japanese exports grew by 33.3% to 91.2 trillion yen ($709 billion), the ministry said. Exports from japan grew the most to countries such as Indonesia (an increase of 67.9%), Chile (an increase of 116%), Brazil (an increase of 47%), Ireland (an increase of 61.9%), and Russia (an increase of 37.4%).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Business Upturn staff. And is published from a syndicated feed.)

India exports GI certified Fazil mango variety from West Bengal to Bahrain

Diya S. — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 13:48:11 +0000

On Saturday, the Ministry of Commerce announced that a consignment of Geographical Indication (GI) certified Fazil mangoes, which are sourced from West Bengal’s Malda district has been exported to Bahrain.

The GI tag is a sign used for an agricultural, natural, or a manufactured product like handicraft and industrial goods originating from a specific geographical location and is issued on the basis of per the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

Additionally, the tag helps growers receive a premium price for their products as well as preventing other producers from unauthorized uses of a registered GI. It conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is mainly attributable to the place of its origin.

Darjeeling Tea (West Bengal), Nagpur Orange (Maharashtra), Solapur Chaddar (Maharashtra), Mysore Silk (Karnataka), Aranmulla Kanna (Kerala) among others are some of the registered GI tags in the country.

Reportedly, in June 2021, a week-long Indian mango promotion program was conducted in the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain where 16 mango varieties including three GI certified Khirsapatin and Lakshmanbhog of West Bengal and Bihar’s Zardalu were presented.

The Ministry stated separately that for the promotion of agricultural crops while adhering to global practices, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in collaboration with Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), traders, exporters, agricultural scientists alongside the government of Uttar Pradesh and other institutions had held a meeting in Varanasi.

Cipla seeking for DCGI nod for importing Moderna vaccine in India

Govindraj Muttepawar — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 10:26:40 +0000

The multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Cipla has sought out the Drugs controller General of India nod for importing Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccination shots.

On Monday the company had submitted an application seeking for an approval to start importing the vaccine, further sources say that the DCGI might give the green signal to do so on Tuesday itself.

Moderna’s methods for protection against COVID-19 relies on messenger RNA to program the cells to generate immunity against the coronavirus outbreak. Analyst say that the vaccine along with Pfizer are viewed as the preferred choice among wealthy countries.

Based on the clinical trials, the data states that they were more than 90% effective at preventing the symptoms of the Corona Virus. Approximately around 120 million American citizens have been vaccinated by Moderna or Pfizer shots till now, without experiencing any major safety issues.

According to some of the agencies, Moderna vaccine will be approved only for Citizens of age 18 and above added to that only for emergency use in India.

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 is sold under brand name of “Spikevax” in the US, which was developed by the NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease). However the assessment of the safety data of the first 100 beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccines shall still be needed to be submitted before rolling it out for a full scale mass immunization program.

Recently the Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla had said that the companies vaccines may soon be available in India as they are in the process right now and waiting for its approval in the final stages.

Exports dip 0.25% to USD 27.67 billion in February, trade deficit widens to $12.88 billion

Ushma Ghosh — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 11:55:04 +0000

India’s exports marginally declined 0.25% to USD 27.67 billion in February while imports grew by 6.98% to USD 40.55 billion during the month, according to provisional data released by the commerce ministry on Tuesday. The trade deficit widened to USD 12.88 billion in February as compared to USD 10.16 billion in the year-ago period, the ministry said in a statement.

Last month, exports of $ 40.55 billion amounted to about 2.99 lakh crore rupees. Oil worth about 65 thousand crores was imported for 8.99 billion dollars. After rising by 6.16% in January and 0.14% in December, export earnings declined in February as trade-in major foreign exchange-earners such as petroleum, gems & jewellery and engineering goods continued to take a hit.

The exports during April-February 2020-21 period stood at USD 255.92 billion. In the same period a year ago, it was at USD 291.87 billion, showing a negative growth of 12.32 per cent. Imports during the April-February period too dipped 23% to USD 340.88 billion. Thus, there has been a decline of 12.32% in exports in the first 11 months of the current financial year. Imports have fallen by 23% during this period, with imports of $ 340.88 billion and nearly Rs 25 lakh crore.

With an 18.6% share of India’s Gross Domestic Product, the third quarter (October-December) of 2020-21 saw the contribution of exports to economic growth drop to its lowest in the current financial year. Analysts and exporters say that this is not expected to improve in the next quarter, given the poor performance of outbound trade in the current quarter.

In February, petroleum products, the biggest revenue earner, registered a 28% decline albeit better than the 32% decline seen in the previous month. Industrial products such as engineering goods also continued de-growth. Shipments of exports of engineering goods fell 2%, following an 8% fall in the previous month. The sector accounts for nearly one-fourth of foreign exchange earned through exports.

Commodities that have shown negative growth in exports in February include Petroleum Products (-27.13%), Leather (-21.62%), Cashew (-18.6%), Gems & Jewelery (-11.18%), Engineering Goods (-2.56%). ), Tea (-2.49%) and coffee (-0.73%).

On the other hand, imports rose by 7% to $40.5 billion, after January’s 2% rise. The rate of growth of inbound goods has continued to accelerate. After witnessing a rare trade surplus of $800 million last year at the height of the national lockdown, the trade deficit has also continued to climb up. In February, it rose by more than 25% to $12.8 billion. However, the latest rise was mostly attributed by experts to a 123% surge in gold imports, reflecting pent-up demand as well as elevated prices, with expectations of further imports in the run-up to the festive season.

The sector is most worried about the Rs 25,000-30,000 crore worth of tax refund under the erstwhile Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) they are yet to receive, even as they wait for clarity on its successor tax benefit scheme.

Crucial export sectors such as engineering goods, chemicals, leather and leather goods, heavy industries and key micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) run sectors such as handicraft and carpet exports would see their business being majorly hit in the January-March quarter, considered to be a prime export season, according to the apex exporters body, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

Center to allocate Rs 3,000 crore fund for promoting Indian export

Shravan Kanade — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 06:39:27 +0000

The Government of India has decided to allocate Rs 3,000 crores to EXIM Bank to provide Lines of Credit giving a boost to project exports. This will promote export by mandating recipient countries to import 75 percent value of the LOC under the Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS). Supported projects cover railways, power, transmission, road, and transport auto and auto components, sugar projects, etc.

The government record says that about 811 export contracts have been financed under the Line of Credit aggregating to $10.50 billion. The announcement is part of the Centre’s third round of stimulus which the Finance Minister described as “Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0”.

Earlier on Thursday, the government announced a fresh set of measures of around 1.2 lakh crore Under the mission. This aims to boost job creation, provide liquidity support to stressed sectors, and encourage economic activity in housing and infrastructure areas. While the Finance Minister announced Rs 65,000 in addition to fertilizer subsidy to support demand.

The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Indian economy is witnessing a strong recovery after major GDP falls down and economic crises in lockdown. The recovery is due to the unrelenting reforms by the Union government.

Former CM Fadnavis requests Goyal to lift ban on Onion Exports

Agatha Boustin — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 10:48:58 +0000

Devendra Fadnavis, former Maharashtra CM & BJP leader, requested to Piyush Goyal, Union Commerce, and Industry Minister to lift the ban on onion exports.

The ban was announced on Monday by the central government, three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government configured the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 made impositions of limiting stock and restricting movements on food grains, edible oilseeds, potatoes, onions except under extreme conditions like war or natural calamities.

Leaders continue efforts to minimalize repercussions following the ban.

Governement caps export incentives under MEIS to Rs 2 crore, RoDTEP to come into effect from Jan 1

Chittesh Dalmia — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 08:56:04 +0000

The Central government on Tuesday capped export incentives under the Merchant Export from India Scheme (MEIS) at Rs 2 crore per exporter on outbound shipments executed during September 1 to December 31, 2020 period.

Under MEIS, the government provides duty benefits in form of rewards as payable as a percentage of realised free-on-board value and MEIS duty credit scrip can be transferred or used for payment of a number of duties, including the basic customs duty.

The move comes after the Department of Revenue asked the commerce ministry to review the coverage of Merchant Export from India Scheme (MEIS) so that the fiscal benefits under the programme can be brought down to Rs 9,000 crore from the Rs 45,000 crore in the current financial year, FY21.

“A limit on total reward under MEIS has been imposed so that for exports made in the period September 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, the total reward which can be claimed by an IEC (Import Export Code) holder does not exceed the ceiling of Rs 2 crore,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

Further, it has been notified that any IEC holder who has not made any exports for a period of one year preceding September 1, 2020 or any new IECs obtained on or after the date of publication of this notification would not be eligible for submitting any claim under this scheme.

“The ceiling will be subject to further downward revision to ensure that the total claim under MEIS for the period (September 1 to December 31, 2020) does not exceed the prescribed allocation by the government, which is Rs 5,000 crore,” it said.

“98 per cent of exporters especially MSMEs will benefit under MEIS with reward cap of Rs 2 crore/ IEC from 1st September to December 31, 2020. This will remove uncertainty and protect genuine exporters while ensuring Make in India-Make for the World,” Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.

98% of exporters esp MSMEs will benefit under Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) with reward cap of Rs. 2 Cr/ Importer Exporter Code from 1st Sep to 31 Dec 2020. This will remove uncertainty & protect genuine exporters while ensuring Make in India-Make for the World. pic.twitter.com/m06OeSxw6k

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) September 1, 2020

The MEIS scheme, introduced in April 2015, will close down by December 31, 2020, and the government has already announced the Remission of Duty or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) scheme to replace MEIS. Under RoDTEP, the remission of embedded taxes and other levies on exports shall be allowed.

Sula Vineyards to export to Singapore & other South-East Asian countries

Chittesh Dalmia — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 07:11:15 +0000

Nashik-based Sula Vineyards will begin exporting to Singapore to expand its presence in the South-East Asian wine market.

“Singapore is a thriving wine hub. The Singaporean consumer now has the choice of experiencing robust flavours of our wines,” Rajeev Samant, founder and CEO of Sula Vineyards, said, as quoted by Financial Express.

The winemaker has partnered with food distribution firm Sonnamera to enter the Singapore market.

“Over the past few months, with the outbreak of COVID-19, the off-premise consumption of wine has driven rapid growth in the category and we expect this trend to continue to be strong for several months as more meals are cooked at home and home entertaining takes precedence over dining out,” Abhay Sharma, founder, Sonnamera said, as quoted by the publication.

Singapore’s wine market registered 5.7 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2013-2018 and is forecast to increase to 7 percent by 2023, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.

Sula Vineyards, which has a share of over 60 percent in the domestic market, imports its products to over 30 countries. Sula Vineyards added Australia to its exports portfolio in March 2020 and had begun exporting to China in 2019.

Source: Moneycontrol

India Inc. facing crunch of input sources

Chittesh Dalmia — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 10:55:06 +0000

Amid simmering tension between India and China, Indian industry is divided over changing its input sourcing strategies currently heavily dependent on China.

While sectors like automotive, textile machinery are looking at diversifying their input sourcing, capital goods and electronics sectors don’t find it viable, according to the latest quarterly survey of Indian manufacturing by industry lobby group Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Half of the respondents of the automotive sector and one third of the respondents in textile machinery indicated they are planning to change their raw material and input sourcing strategies. However, capital goods, cement and ceramics, chemical, fertilisers and pharmaceuticals, leather and footwear and textiles sectors said they are not planning to change theirs. Two thirds of respondents of electronics and electricals said they are not planning change source of inputs.

In the crucial chemicals, fertilisers and pharmaceuticals sector which is heavily dependent on China, 78% of respondents indicated that they are not planning to change their raw material/input sourcing strategies. “The remaining respondents stated that they will try to strengthen the in-house manufacturing and some of the key raw material sourcing will be shifted away from one country,” the FICCI survey said.

Chinese imports and investments have been facing new scrutiny in India after a tense border standoff that left 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese troops dead. India is aiming at reducing trade links with China as part of policy to cut dependence on the country.

India has banned railway and road projects for Chinese companies and has barred 59 apps from the country, including TikTok, on national security grounds. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India needs to end its dependence on import of solar panels, which are mostly sourced from China. Earlier this month, power minister R.K. Singh announced India will not allow import of power equipment from China and Pakistan because of cyber-security threats.

The proportion of respondents reporting higher output during June quarter of FY21 has fallen to just 10% as compared to 15% in March quarter of FY20. The future investment outlook looks subdued as only 22% respondents reported plans for capacity additions for the next six months as compared to 28% in previous quarter.

“High raw material prices, high cost of finance, uncertainty of demand, shortage of skilled labor and working capital, high logistics cost, low domestic and global demand due to imposition of lockdown across all countries to contain spread of coronavirus, excess capacities due to high volume of cheap imports into India, lack of financial assistance, unstable market, complex procedures for obtaining environmental clearances, high power tariff, are some of the major constraints which are affecting expansion plans of the respondents,” the FICCI survey said.

Hiring outlook for the sector shows a bleak picture as 85% of the respondents mentioned that they are not likely to hire additional workforce in the next three months. Average interest rate paid by the manufacturers has reduced slightly to 9.4% per annum in June quarter as against 9.9% p.a. March quarter and the highest rate remains as high as 14.5%. The recent cuts in repo rate by RBI have not led to a consequential reduction in the lending rate as reported by 65% of the respondent.

Source: Live Mint