Trade Promotion Council of India, with the support of the Department of Commerce, is organizing Indus Food from 8th to 10th January 2024 at India Expo Centre, Greater Noida. The event is being considerably scaled-up from its previous edition with the exhibition area being doubled from 30,000 sqm to 60,000 sqm.

 

Over 2,500 global buyers, 5,000+ domestic buyers and 86+ retail chains would be participating. For the first time, more than 120 foreign exhibitors would be participating in addition to 1050 domestic exhibitors. New categories of Food Processing Machinery, Fresh Fruits & Vegetables and Wine & Spirits have been added.

 

The event would also feature Knowledge Sessions, an International F & B Standards Conclave, Masterclasses and Innovation Awards for Industry.

Indonesia's PResident Joko Widodo said on Friday his government has secured rice import commitments from India and Thailand to shore up supply for 2024.

He said the country's food procurement agency Bulog has signed an initial deal for 1 million metric tons from India, while from Thailand, Indonesia has secured a commitment for 2 million tons.

 

Jokowi, as the president is known, said while Indonesia's headline inflation is low, he remains concerned about food prices and imports would help secure supply.

'I am still worried when it comes to food commodities. The super El Nino this year brought our rice production down, and in 2024 we predict that it will not return to normal levels yet,' he told an economic outlook event in Jakarta.

Jokowi said he met with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin during a meeting last week of Japanese and Southeast Asian leaders in Japan and sought rice imports from Thailand.

The government has sold 3.46 lakh tonnes of wheat and 13,164 tonnes of rice through e-auctions to bulk consumers as part of its effort to boost domestic supplies and control retail prices. The government is selling wheat and rice from its buffer stocks to keep retail prices under control under the Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS). Food Corporation of India (FCI), the government's nodal agency for food grains procurement and distribution, is conducting the e-auctions.

 

The Centre has allocated 101.5 lakh tonnes of wheat for the OMSS till March 2024.

 

'The 26th e-auction was held on December 20 wherein 4 lakh tonnes wheat and 1.93 lakh tonnes rice was offered. In the e-auction, 3.46 lakh tonnes wheat and 13,164 tonnes rice was sold at a weighted average of Rs 2,178.24 per quintal for wheat and Rs 2905.40 per quintal for rice,' an official statement said.

 

To control the retail prices of rice, wheat and atta, the government is organising weekly e-auctions of both wheat and rice.

 

The minimum and maximum quantity of rice that a bidder can bid has been fixed at 1 tonne and 2,000 tonne, respectively. The bidders can bid in multiples of 1 tonne with respect of rice under OMSS (Domestic).

 

This measure has been taken to enhance the sale of rice under OMSS (Domestic) and in the present e-auction, the sale of rice has increased to 13,164 MT from 3,300 MT that was sold in the previous e-auction.

 

Earlier this month, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the government is ready to offload additional 25 lakh tonnes of FCI wheat to bulk consumers during January-March 2024, under OMSS, in order to boost domestic supply and check price rise.

 

The West Bengal Government is taking several measures to arrest the fall in production of the famous Darjeeling oranges due to Dieback disease, which caused around 10-15 per cent decrease in production of this variety of oranges this year.

 

Darjeeling mandarin oranges are grown only in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of the State.

 

'Darjeeling mandarin oranges are world famous. But its production has fallen significantly. One of the reasons is a disease. Due to this disease, production has fallen by around 10-15 per cent this year,' Food Processing Industries and Horticulture Minister Arup Roy said at West Bengal Food Processing Conclave here on Thursday.

 

Roy said the State government is taking measures to check the fall in productions of oranges due to dieback disease. 'We have talked to Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur, and other experts in this regard. We have to help our farmers,' he said.

 

Disease-free planting materials

Over the years, around 80 per cent of total area under cultivation, where Darjeeling mandarin oranges are grown, has reduced in the state only due to the Dieback disease. Production of this variety of oranges has been witnessing a fall also due to pest attacks, shortage of proper quality saplings and reduction in fertility of the soil, among others.

 

In order to address the issue of fall in orange production, the Directorate of Cinchona and other Medicinal Plant, under the State’s Department of Food Processing Industries and Horticulture, is planning to produce quality disease-free planting materials.

 

'We are going to the farmers for rejuvenation of existing orange orchards. For that we will do inarching and disease management, insects and pests management and nutritional management,' a senior government official told businessline.

 

Inarching is required in cases where old and more number of fruits bearing plants get root decaying diseases. 'We will give farmers training,' the official said.

 

Prices of parboiled rice from top exporters climbed this week, fuelled by limited supplies, pushing Vietnamese rates to their highest in more than 15 years, and in turn driving up the less expensive Indian variety to its highest in two months.

 

Vietnam's 5% broken rice was offered at $660 to $665 a metric ton on Thursday, its highest since mid-July 2008, versus $655 to $660 last week.

 

'Prices edged higher on tight supplies,' said a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Preliminary shipping data showed 162,800 tons of rice to be loaded at Ho Chi Minh City port from Dec 1 to 20, with most of it heading to Indonesia, the Philippines and Cuba.

 

The prices of India's exports rose in line with the upward trend in other exporters and concerns over production.

 

India's 5% broken parboiled variety was quoted at $505 to $512 a metric ton this week, its highest in two months, up from last week's range of $499 to $506.

 

'Due to widening gaps between Indian prices and those of other countries, buyers are now willing to accept higher prices,' said an exporter in the eastern city of Kolkata.

 

India's rice output is expected to fall this year, for the first time in eight, making it more likely that New Delhi will extend export curbs to hold down prices ahead of general elections due next year.

 

The price of Thailand's 5% broken rice increased to its highest since August, at $646 to $650 a metric ton, from last week's $640.

 

Traders said the increase was fuelled by more orders from the Philippines this week.

 

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Indonesia told the Thai government of its intent to buy 2 million metric tons of the grain in a letter received on Monday.

 

Supply has dwindled and traders say they expect more entering the market early next year.

 

In order to address the shortage of food grain storage capacity in the country, Government has approved the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector, which is being rolled out as a Pilot Project in different States/UTs of the country.

 

The Plan entails creation of various agri infrastructure at PACS level, including setting up decentralised godowns, custom hiring centre, processing units, fair price shops, through convergence of various existing schemes of Government of India (GoI), such as, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme (AMI), Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME).

 

Under these schemes, PACS can avail subsidies and interest subvention benefits for construction of godowns/storage facilities and setting up of other agri infrastructure. Further, NABARD is also extending financial support to PACS by refinancing them at highly subsidised rates of around 1%, after incorporating the benefits of 3% interest subvention under AIF scheme for projects up to Rs 2 crore.  

 

Therefore, the plan aims to strengthen the economic condition of PACS by diversifying their business activities and giving them additional sources of revenue thus improving their financial sustainability.

 

The Pilot project is being implemented by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) with the support of NABARD, Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS), National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), etc. in different States/ UTs. Consultancy support is also being extended to PACS through these agencies under the project.

 

In order to ensure accountability and smooth, effective and transparent implementation of the plan, Ministry of Cooperation has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), which is authorised to modify guidelines/ implementation methodologies of the schemes identified for convergence, as and when need arises. A National Level Coordination Committee (NLCC) has also been constituted having members from Ministry/ Departments, Central Government agencies concerned to steer the overall implementation of the Plan and reviewing the progress of implementation.

India's agriculture exports this fiscal are expected to reach the last year's level of USD 53 billion despite restrictions imposed on shipments of certain key commodities, including rice, wheat and sugar, according to a senior government official. In 2022-23, the country's agri exports stood at USD 53 billion.

 

'We expect that we would reach that level in spite of USD 4.5 billion-USD 5 billion impact due to the restrictions,' Additional Secretary in the commerce ministry Rajesh Agrawal told reporters here on Thursday.

 

The government has prohibited exports of wheat and non-basmati white rice and has imposed curbs on sugar exports.

 

He said the government is promoting exports of new products like bananas and value-added millet products to new global destinations.

 

'In the next three years, we are hoping to increase banana exports to USD 1 billion,' he said.

 

Exports of fruits and vegetables, cereals, meat, dairy and poultry products registered a healthy growth rate during April-November.

 

Rice exports, however, declined 7.65 per cent to USD 6.5 billion during the same period.

 

Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), has approved One District One Product programme for 713 districts in 35 States / UTs under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME), Scheme on recommendations from the States/ UTs and in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. New One District One Product programme products are also added from time to time on the recommendations from the States / UTs.

 

In the State of Jharkhand, ODOP have been approved for 24 districts, credit linked subsidy approved to 999 micro food processing enterprises and Seed Capital of Rs 13.20 crore has been released for 3849 Self Help Group (SHG), members under PMFME scheme.

 

The Scheme adopts One District One Product approach to reap the benefit of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services and marketing of products. ODOP for the scheme provides the framework for value chain development and alignment of support infrastructure.

 

Under ODOP, credit linked subsidy has been sanctioned for 12,024 micro food processing enterprises, 76 incubation centres have been approved and 14 brands launched for marketing and branding support to Micro food processing units in the country.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), has been implementing a Central sector scheme ‘Operation Greens’, under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana since 2018-19, with the objective of enhancing the value realisation of farmers and minimising post-harvest losses. Under the scheme, 53 projects have been approved across the country for eligible crops in identified production clusters with grants in aid of Rs 634.59 crore for total project cost of Rs 2457.49 crore.  

 

The scope of OG Scheme has been expanded from three crops namely tomato, onion and potato to 22 perishable crops namely mango, banana, apple, pineapple, orange, grapes, aonla/amla, pomegranate, guava, litchi, tomato, onion, potato, green peas, carrot, cauliflower, beans, gourd family {bottle gourd (loki), bitter gourd (karela), ridge/sponge gourd (torai) pointed gourd (parval) and ash gourd (petha)}, okra, garlic, ginger and shrimp, during the 15th Financial Commission Cycle (2021-26).

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal and his New Zealand counterpart Todd McClay discussed measures to reduce trade barriers and promote a more investor-friendly environment to boost economic ties. 

 

The bilateral discussion was aimed at strengthening the trade relations between both countries by exploring opportunities for mutual growth and cooperation, the commerce ministry said in an official statement on Wednesday.  

 

The meeting between both the ministers was held on 19 December in New Delhi. The dialogue between both the leaders is seen as a move to improve trade relations as India is New Zealand’s 11th largest trading partner. 

 

Education and tourism are other two sectors in which New Zealand wants to make a significant growth.   

 

Both the ministers recognized the importance of trade facilitation and discussed measures to streamline trade processes, reduce trade barriers, and promote a more conducive environment for businesses and investors from both nations, the ministry statement said.  

 

The New Zealand’s trade minister hailed the efforts made by India to sort out the issue related to export of wooden logs to India. 

 

'They highlighted the need to deepen engagement in sectors such as agriculture, forestry, pharma, connectivity, education and tourism,' the statement said.  

 

Both ministers expressed the need to increase engagement between the two countries under a collaborative approach that engages officials from across relevant departments and the private sector to strengthen the trade and economic relationship, the statement said.  

 

The importance of the annual meeting of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC), established under the 1986 India-New Zealand Trade Agreement, and regular engagement at a senior level was also appreciated and they agreed to meet on a regular basis for bilateral discussions on trade, investment issues and co-operative activities, it said.  

 

The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $1 billion in 2022-23. 

 

India New Zealand trade trade facilitation trade barriers Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal New Zealand's trade minister Todd McClay