Australia has expressed interest in exploring opportunities in India's agri-tech space and further strengthening trade ties, the agriculture ministry said on Friday. Australian High Commissioner Philip Green, who paid a courtesy visit to Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi on Thursday, discussed new opportunities for collaboration in agriculture and allied sectors.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under Notification No. 22/2024-25 dated 14th November 2024, has proposed a new update to India’s export policy. The notification describes the introduction of a harmonized Schedule-II (Export Policy) based on 8-digit ITC (HS) codes.

Negotiations for all the proposed free trade agreements, including those with the UK and European Union (EU), are progressing as per the schedule and the country's FTAs are not paused, a top government official has said. The official said that an impression is going around that FTAs are paused, which is not correct.

The global food import bill is expected to increase by 2.2 percent from the previous year to more than $2 trillion in 2024, pushed up by higher prices for cocoa, coffee and tea and also buoyed by higher import costs for fruits and vegetables, according to Food Outlook, a report the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released Thursday.

India and the Netherlands discussed ways to strengthen agricultural collaboration during a meeting between Mr. Jan-Kees Goet, Vice-Minister of Agriculture of the Netherlands, and Dr. Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, at Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi today, a PIB release stated.

Onion exports have resumed after a gap of two months with Malaysia buying the bulb from Gujarat. The export volume is expected to pick up once kharif onions’ arrival peaks in a couple of weeks time, exporters said. 

India’s total exports (Merchandise and Services combined) for October 2024* is estimated at USD 73.21 Billion, registering a positive growth of 19.08 percent vis-à-vis October 2023.Total imports (Merchandise and Services combined) for October 2024* is estimated at USD 83.33 Billion, registering a positive growth of 7.77 percent vis-à-vis October 2023.

India accords high priority to its strategic partnership with Nigeria, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday (November 17, 2024) as he held wide-ranging talks with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with a focus on shoring up bilateral cooperation in sectors such as defence, trade and energy.