The commerce ministry is working to address issues related to non-tariff barriers and market access for domestic products in sub-Saharan African countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and Gulf nations to boost India's exports, an official said.

The official said meetings have been held with Indian missions of the sub-Saharan African countries with which India has significant bilateral trade.

 

The major trading partners of India in that region in 2022-23 were South Africa (total trade USD 18.9 billion, exports USD 8.5 billion); Nigeria (USD 11.85 billion, exports USD 5.15 billion); Togo (USD 6.6 billion, exports USD 6 billion), and Tanzania (USD 6.5 billion, exports USD 3.93 billion).

 

The other countries were Mozambique (USD 5 billion, exports USD 2.5 billion); Angola (USD 4.22 billion, exports USD 621 million); and Kenya (USD 3.4 billion, exports USD 3.2 billion).

'A virtual meeting with Indian Mission of top 10 countries (bilateral trade-wise) in sub-Saharan African region was held in September to discuss the overall economic and commercial relations with those countries, export performance and non-tariff barriers which are acting as impediments to bilateral trade and enhance exports,' the official said.

A similar meeting was also held with Indian Missions in GCC countries. GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain. The council is the largest trading bloc of India.

 

The bilateral trade in 2022-23 with these countries stood at USD 52.76 billion with Saudi Arabia; USD 84.8 billion with the UAE; USD 18.77 billion with Qatar; USD 13.8 billion with Kuwait; and USD 12.4 billion with Oman.

The ministry has asked exporters to focus on potential key sectors such as food, electronics and engineering, and major markets to boost exports.

It has suggested focus on organising fairs and exhibitions at global scale.

India's merchandise exports rose 6.21 per cent to USD 33.57 billion in October this year, even as the trade deficit touched a record high of USD 31.46 billion during the month.

 

Imports increased 12.3 per cent to USD 65.03 billion during the month due to a jump in gold imports.

Cumulatively, exports during the April-October period this fiscal contracted 7 per cent to USD 244.89 billion, while imports fell 8.95 per cent to USD 391.96 billion.

The trade deficit during the seven-month period was USD 147.07 billion against USD 167.14 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) in its report, released in August, has said India needs to act in a fast-track manner for removal of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) being faced by domestic exporters in different countries to achieve one trillion dollar outbound shipment target for goods by 2030.

 

Key Indian exports that face high barriers include ceramic tiles in Egypt; and microbiological regents in Saudi Arabia, the report added.

Most Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) are domestic rules created by countries with an aim to protect human, animal or plant health and environment.

NTM may be technical measures like regulations, standards, testing, certification, pre-shipment inspection or non-technical measures like quotas, import licensing, subsidies, government procurement restrictions.

When NTMs become arbitrary, beyond scientific justification, they create hurdles for trade and are called NTBs.

Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia, BN Reddy, announced ambitious plans for India-Malaysia bilateral trade, aiming to reach USD 25 billion in the next three years. Currently standing at USD 20 billion, the trade relationship is poised for growth, with a focus on economic sustainability.

In an interaction with ANI, the Indian envoy emphasised the significance of economic ties, saying, 'In any relationship, the real sustenance comes from economic and trade relations.' He highlighted India's import of various commodities from Malaysia, including palm oil, crude oil, and LNG.

 

'The bilateral trade between India and Malaysia, currently at 20 billion dollars, will increase to 25 billion dollars in the next three years,' Reddy said, adding, 'But we do import quite a lot of commodities from Malaysia, including palm oil, crude oil, and LNG.'

 

Reflecting on the 65 years of diplomatic relations, Reddy mentioned the ongoing efforts to realise the enhanced strategic partnership established during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2015 visit to Malaysia. He stressed the comprehensive nature of the relationship, covering the entire spectrum.

'We are in the process of now realising the enhanced strategic partnership that was established during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, where it was decided that our engagement with Malaysia would be taken to newer heights, wherein covering the entire spectrum of the relationship,' Reddy added.

With Malaysia hosting the second-largest Indian-origin community, the Indian envoy noted the diverse linguistic and cultural ties that provide a natural bridge for deeper engagement.

 

'Put it in a nutshell, Malaysia has the second largest population of Indian-origin community. I would say there is a mini-India here even though Tamil speakers are the largest, but you also have the Malayalam, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Odiya speaking populations, which provides a natural bridge for us to engage with Malaysia more deeply,' he also said.

Recent high-level meetings, including the Joint Commission meeting and Defence Secretary-level talks, have facilitated a comprehensive review of the relationship.

'We had the joint commission meeting held in Delhi earlier this month led by External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, with the Malaysian Foreign Minister in Delhi. Prior to that, we had the Defence secretary-level talks in Delhi to review the entire defence corporation and we had the visit of Raksha Mantri. Ever since the new Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim took office in November last year we've already had eight ministers and deputy ministers from Malaysia visit India. And we had two of our ministers come here. Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh coming into Malaysia end of this week,' he further said.

 

Reddy highlighted key areas for potential collaboration, such as renewable energy and the semiconductor sector. Malaysian company Petron has already invested billions of dollars in the renewable energy sector in India. Plans for a Malaysia-India Digital Council and an Annual Energy Dialogue further underscore the commitment to expanding collaboration.

'In the last six months, Malaysian company Petron has announced close to four and a half billion US dollars in the renewable energy sector in India,' Reddy said, adding, 'We're going to start another thing called Annual Energy Dialogue. Given the significant emphasis of both countries and having already close to USD 4 billion bilateral trade in fossil fuels, particularly oil and gas, we want to expand it to renewable energy.'

 

The Indian High Commissioner expressed optimism about the growing relationship, emphasising political understanding between the two governments. He concluded, 'Our effort is to truly realise this potential, ensuring a balanced relationship that benefits both countries.

 

Wedding planner Mukta Kapoor recently had a client request an arrangement of locally grown nargis flowers (daffodils). And she's not the only one. There's a growing trend of Indians opting for domestic produce, as opposed to imported blooms. India's increasing cultivation of exotic flowers such as orchids, carnations and tulips is meeting the rising demand. Regulations are also keeping overseas supplies in check.

 

Among the much-in-demand blossoms, India's production of chrysanthemums rose 136% from FY16 to 470.15 tonnes in FY22, while that of orchids was up 210% over the same period. On the other hand, India's imports of fresh and dried flowers, flower buds, bulbs and tubers almost halved during FY15 to FY23.

 

Meanwhile, the fall in flower shipments from India seems to indicate that production is increasingly going towards meeting local demand, especially at weddings. India's flower exports more than halved to $22.92 million in FY23, from $49.43 million in FY15. 'Till some time ago, people had a fetish for foreign flowers, especially tulips,' said Kapoor, who is director of New Delhi-based Yuna Weddings & Events. 'But now, they prefer fresh flowers grown locally, which are equally pretty.'

 

Shorter shelf life for imported flowers

Imports of cut flowers and flower buds of the kind suitable for bouquets or ornamental purposes attract a 60% duty.

 

Additionally, 'there is an import restriction in force, wherein all cut flower shipments are to be brought in only through Chennai customs port,' said Anil Sharma, chief operating officer, retail and franchising, Ferns N Petals.

 

Explaining how four to five days of shelf life are compromised in the case of imported flowers, he said, 'There is a condition of three days' mandatory quarantine of the shipment.' Inland air freight makes it even more costly, Sharma said.

 

On the other hand, local blossoms are delivered fresh and, in large measure, match the quality of imports. 'Flowers such as orchids and tulips are now grown domestically. Also, the quality and size are similar to the imported ones,' said an official.

 

Yuna's Kapoor said lotuses are also much sought after at Indian weddings.

 

Price points are an added benefit. Among locally grown flowers, nargis costs Rs 250-500 a bunch, depending on the quality. Tulips can cost Rs 1,500 for 10 pieces. A tulip stick at the Ghazipur flower market costs Rs 100. The price also differs from season to season.

 

Compared to this, imported blooms including hydrangeas, daffodils and tulips can cost anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 per bouquet.

 

Thailand, the Netherlands, Colombia and Kenya are the top sources of imports for India.

 

The UP food safety department has asked state-based 92 manufacturers to recall their products having halal certification, from the market, citing certification from unrecognised organisations.

 

According to the reports, since the ban on halal food products came into effect on November 18, 92 raids were carried out by the state food safety department in which around 3,000 kg of halal certified products worth approximately Rs 8 lakh have been seized. Further, 81 samples were sent for lab analysis.

 

The halal certified food items seized include sugar, sauces, rice, oil and bakery products and many such products were also manufactured in other states.

 

The Government officials say that there are only three organisations in India, including one based in Lucknow, which are registered with the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) for giving halal certification to meat and meat products for export. However, there are around 800 organisations that have been issuing halal certificates.

In its 63rd council meeting, International Sugar Organisation (ISO), headquartered in London, has announced India to be the Chair of the organisation for 2024. This is a huge achievement for the country to lead the global sugar sector and reflection of growing stature of the country in this domain. While attending the ISO Council Meeting, Shri Sanjeev Chopra, Secretary (Food), Government of India remarked that during its period of chairmanship of ISO in 2024, India seeks support and cooperation from all member countries and would like to focus on bringing together all member countries to adopt more sustainable practices in sugarcane cultivation, sugar and ethanol production and better utilisation of by-products.

 

India has been the largest consumer and second largest producer of sugar in the world. With about 15% share in global sugar consumption and about 20% production of sugar, Indian sugar trends affects the global markets profusely. This leading position makes India as the most suitable nation to lead International Sugar Organisation (ISO) which is the apex international body on sugar and relating products having about 90 countries as members.

 

With Brazil in the Western Hemisphere, India is the market leader in Eastern Hemisphere for sugar market. Now, being the 3rd largest country in the world in ethanol production after USA and Brazil, India has shown commitment towards green energy and its capability to twist the challenges of surplus sugar in domestic market to solution of fossil fuels imports and a tool to meet COP 26 targets for India. It is remarkable that ethanol blending percentage in India has increased from 5% in 2019-20 to 12% in 2022-23 while the production has increased from 173 crore litres to more than 500 crore litres during the same period.

 

Indian sugar industry has come a long way in modernisation and expansion as well as in diversification to exploitation of potential of its by-products to generate additional revenue streams to make the whole business model both sustainable and profitable. It has proven its robustness during Covid pandemic by operating its mills while the country was facing lockdown and rising to the occasion by producing hand sanitisers sufficient to meet the demand in the country.

 

India has a unique distinction of being the Payer of the Highest Cane Price to its farmers and still efficient enough to make profits and operating in self-sufficient manner without any Government financial assistance. Synergy between Government and sugar industry has made it possible to rejuvenate Indian sugar industry and to transform into a major player in green energy in the country. The era of pending cane dues of farmers has become a thing of past. More than 98% cane dues of last season 2022-23 have already been paid and more than 99.9% cane dues of previous seasons are clear. Thus, cane dues pendency is at all time low in India.

 

India has set the example by not only taking care of farmers and industry but also by putting consumers first. Domestic sugar retail prices are consistent and stable. While the global prices are hiked by about 40% in one year, India has been able to contain sugar prices within 5% increase from last year without putting additional burden on the industry.

 

On technical side also, National Sugar Institute, Kanpur has spread its wings and is collaborating with many countries including Indonesia, Nigeria, Egypt, Fiji etc. for sharing the latest technologies in the sector and best practices.

 

Think-tank GTRI on Sunday suggested that the government study the bilateral free trade agreement with Singapore and as part of the Asean bloc together while reviewing its trade pact with the 10-nation grouping. Singapore is a member of 10-nation Asean bloc with which India has a free trade agreement in goods since 2010. Separately, India also implemented a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore in 2005.

 

The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) also suggested a similar exercise with Thailand, another member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). India signed a limited free trade pact with Thailand in 2006.

 

These suggestions assume significance as India and Asean have agreed to review their trade pact and are aiming to conclude the exercise by 2025.

 

Asean members are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

 

Out of these, five countries - Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam - account for 92.7 per cent of India's exports and 97.4 per cent imports from Asean.

 

India's export to Asean was USD 19.1 billion in 2008-09 and it increased to USD 44 billion in 2022-23. On the other hand, imports from the 10-nation bloc rose to USD 87.6 billion in the last fiscal as against USD 26.2 billion in 2008-09.

 

'India has a separate FTA with Singapore with more relaxed rules of origin of products. The two FTAs may be studied together. India has a separate FTA with Thailand called early harvest scheme (EHS) with relaxed rules of origin than what India-Asean FTA offers. Substantial imports may be happening through EHS. The two FTAs may be studied together,' GTRI said in its report.

 

With Indonesia, the report said that in 2022-23, India imported a total of USD 28.8 billion worth of goods and the primary imports included coal (USD 14.4 billion), which consisted of both steam coal (USD 13.7 billion) and coking coal (USD 0.7 billion).

 

Additionally, India imported palm oil worth USD 5.6 billion and copper ore worth USD 0.9 billion from Indonesia.

 

These products are needed by India, most imports take place at MFN (most favoured nation) zero duty, it said adding the FTA review may not be helpful to cut such imports.

 

'Coal imports have increased by 121 per cent in the past one year alone and most coal is steam coal, available in abundance in India. India should focus on using local coal. Offering MSP (minimum support price) on mustard and other similar oils will cut domestic prices and wean people away from inferior palm oil gradually,' GTRI Co-Founder Ajay Srivastava said.

 

With Singapore, the report said that electronics constituted a significant portion of imports, totalling USD 7.2 billion in the last fiscal, including computers (USD 1.7 billion) and integrated circuits (USD 1.5 billion). Other notable imports included plastics, iron and steel, gold, and a smaller amount of fertilizers.

 

'Singapore does not produce coal, iron, steel, or fertilizers. Firms may be transhipping these from Singapore. But this adds to cost and is bad business. Such imports must be out of the FTA, but need investigation why they are happening in the first place. Rules of Origins may be checked for use of value addition norms for electronics products, gold etc,' he said.

 

Further the country's imports from Malaysia stood at USD 12.7 billion in 2022-23 and the main goods included palm oil (USD 3.5 billion), petroleum products (USD 3.2 billion), and electronics (USD 2.2 billion) and most of these imports are commodities needed by India and the FTA review may not be helpful to cut most of such imports, GTRI said.

 

Nutrihub, an arm of the ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), is organising a two-day International Nutri Cereal Convention (INCC) beginning November 27.

 

The convention, which is being organised in the International Year of Millets, will focus on the theme ‘Mainstreaming Millets Now and Beyond 2023’.

 

Representatives from 19 countries will attend the conference. The list includes Takayuki Hagiwara, Food and Agriculture Organisation, and Vijay Paul Sharma, Chairman of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

 

About 850 stakeholders consisting of Indian State millet missions, start-ups, exhibitors, entrepreneurs, self-help groups, farmer producer organisations, nutritionists, and dieticians are expected to take part in the event.

 

'The conference will help promote a more sustainable and nutritious global food system by focusing on millets – from farms to plates; raising awareness of the significance of millets; and promotion of new millet-based products,' C Tara Satyavathi, Director of IIMR, said.

 

B Dayakar Rao, Principal Scientist and CEO of Nutrihub, said that a strategy paper would be prepared based on the deliberations at the conference.

 

The government plans to sharply increase its procurement of tur dal from a few metric tonnes to around 8-10 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) to keep prices of the commodity under control in a year when the acreage under the pulse has shrunk and production is expected to be low, said a senior official.

 

The all India retail price of tur dal jumped over 40% from Rs 112 per kg last year to Rs 158 per kg this year, according to government data.

 

Retail inflation in pulses as a category rose to 18.79% year-on-year in October mainly due to a sharp spike in prices of tur, chana and moong, against 6.61% food inflation in the same month. This is despite the government’s effort to increase the imports from African nations and Burma by scrapping the import duty on tur in March.

 

The procurement will happen through the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) at market rates, which is much higher than the minimum support price (MSP), the official said, asking not to be identified.

 

The purchase will be done through the procuring agencies – National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) – directly from the farmers and will begin right at the start of the season when the kharif crop starts coming to the market, the official said.

 

The production of tur is estimated at 34.21 LMT, which is slightly less than last year’s output, according to the first advance estimate released by the ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare in October.

 

'This will send a message to the farmers that there is a definite buyer in the market, encouraging them to plant more tur in the years to come,' the official said, adding that an increase in area will eventually help in reducing import dependence.

Due to heavy reliance on imports, countries like Mozambique and Burma are dictating terms, causing disruption in the supply of the dal, which is amongst the most consumed pulse in the country.

 

The acreage under tur shrunk during the kharif season, leading to production shortage which in turn pushed food inflation in the last few months. The area under tur dropped from 46.13 lakh hectares on September 29, 2022 to 43.87 lakh hectares on September 29, 2023, according to government’s data.

India, along with at least 20 other countries, will deliberate the way forward on trade distorting subsidies that have prevented substantive progress in the multilateral agriculture negotiations, at a key mini-ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) this week.

 

The meeting, to be held Tuesday, follows India's criticism of the Cairns Group for proposing to halve the overall agriculture domestic support entitlements by the end of 2034 and 'ambushing' public stockholding talks.

 

Around 80 WTO members opposed this proposal by the Cairns Group, which has 19 members including Argentina, Australia, Brazil and Canada. Last month, the European Union had shown willingness to negotiate the public stockholding issue with India. The move was seen as a significant breakthrough on the issue which has been deadlocked for the past 10 years.

 

'The meeting aims to provide clear political guidance to overcome the stumbling blocks in the agriculture negotiations,' said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

 

The mini-ministerial meeting assumes significance as India and 80-odd developing and least developed countries want an outcome on public stockholding to be at the core of any potential agriculture package at the 13th ministerial conference (MC13) of the WTO next year.

 

Last month's meeting of senior officials could not give a clear sense of direction on the talks.

 

The G33, African Group and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States are seeking the fulfilment of the existing mandate and the adoption of a permanent solution at MC13 after the deadline was missed at MC11 in Buenos Aires. They have proposed to amend the anti-circumvention clause in the Bali Ministerial Declaration of 2013, as per which developing countries who procure food stocks for security 'do not distort trade or adversely affect the food security of other members'.

 

They have said that a permanent solution for public stockholding should account for inflation and also be based on a recent reference price instead of an old one, which is based on 1986-88 prices.

 

Public stockholding is a policy tool used by governments to purchase, stockpile and distribute food when needed. Developing countries' food subsidies are protected by an interim peace clause, which shields food procurement programmes against action from WTO members in case the subsidy ceilings - 10% of value of food production in the case of India and other developing countries - are breached.

 

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Shri Parshottam Rupala released the Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2023 (milk, egg, meat and wool production 2022-23) based on Animal Integrated Sample Survey (March 2022-February 2023) during  the National  Milk Day event at Guwahati today. The main features of the Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics are:

 

Milk, Egg, Meat and Wool Production 2022-23

 

Union Miniter Shri Parshottam Rupala informed that the Production of Milk, Egg, Meat and wool in the country is estimated annually based on the results of Integrated Sample Survey (ISS) which is conducted across the country in three seasons i.e., Summer (March-June), Rainy (July-October) and Winter (November-February). The estimates of milk, egg, meat and wool for the year 2022-23 have been brought out and the outcomes of this survey are summarised below:

 

Milk Production:

 

Union Minister Shri Rupala informed that the total Milk production in the country is estimated as 230.58 million tonnes during 2022-23 registered a growth of 22.81%over the past 5 years which was 187.75 million tonnes in 2018-19. Further, the production has increased by 3.83% during 2022-23 over the estimates of 2021-22. In past, the annual growth rates were 6.47% in 2018-19; 5.69% in 2019-20; 5.81% in 2020-21 and 5.77% in 2021-22.

 

Minister stated that the highest milk producing State during 2022-23 was Uttar Pradesh with a share of 15.72 % of total milk production followed by Rajasthan (14.44 %), Madhya Pradesh (8.73 %), Gujarat (7.49 %), and Andhra Pradesh (6.70 %). In terms of annual growth rate (AGR), the highest AGR recorded by Karnataka (8.76%) followed by West Bengal (8.65%) and Uttar Pradesh (6.99%) over the previous year.

 

Egg Production:

 

Shri Parshottam Rupala stated that the total Egg production in the country has estimated as 138.38 billion nos. during 2022-23 registered a growth of 33.31% growth over the past 5 years as compared to the estimates of 103.80 billion numbers during 2018-19. Further, the production has increased annually by 6.77%during 2022-23 over 2021-22. In past the annual growth rate was9.02% in 2018-19; 10.19% in 2019-20; 6.70% in 2020-21 and 6.19% in 2021-22.

 

Shri Rupala informed that the Major contribution in the total Egg production comes from Andhra Pradesh with a share of 20.13 % of total Egg production followed by Tamil Nadu (15.58 %), Telangana (12.77 %), West Bengal (9.94%) andKarnataka (6.51 %). In terms of AGR, the highest growth rate was recorded by West Bengal (20.10%) and followed by Sikkim (18.93%) and Uttar Pradesh (12.80%).

 

Meat Production: 

 

Union Minister stated that the total Meat production in the country is estimated as 9.77million tonnes during 2022-23 registered a growth of 20.39 % over the past 5 years as compared to the estimates of 8.11 milliontonnes in 2018-19.Further, the production was increased by 5.13 % in 2022-23 over 2021-22.In the past the growth rate was 5.99 % in 2018-19; 5.98 % in 2019-20; 2.30% in 2020-21 and 5.62 % in 2021-22.

 

He further stated that the Major contribution in the total meat production comes from Uttar Pradesh with 12.20 % share and followed by West Bengal (11.93 %), Maharashtra (11.50 %), Andhra Pradesh (11.20 %) and Telangana (11.06 %). In terms of annual growth rate, the highest Annual Growth Rate (AGR) has recorded in Sikkim (63.08%) followed by Meghalaya (38.34%) and Goa (22.98%).

 

Wool Production:

 

Shri Rupala inormed that the total Wool production in the country is estimated as 33.61 million kg during 2022-23 registered a negative growth of 16.84% over the past 5 years as compared to the estimates of 40.42 million kg during 2018-19. However, the production has increased by 2.12% in 2022-23 over 2021-22. In past the growth rates were -2.51% in 2018-19; -9.05% in 2019-20, - 0.46% in 2020-21and-10.87% in 2021-22.

 

He informed that the Major contribution in the total Wool production comes from Rajasthan with a share of 47.98% followed by Jammu & Kashmir (22.55%), Gujarat (6.01%), Maharashtra (4.73%) and Himachal Pradesh (4.27%). In terms of annual growth rate, the highest AGR has recorded by Arunachal Pradesh (35.75%) followed by Rajasthan (6.06%) and Jharkhand (2.36%).