The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Thursday said that the imports of watermelon seeds up to October 31 this year would not exceed 35,000 metric tonnes and will be allowed on an actual user basis only.

 

The DGFT laid out a procedure for imports up to October 31, 2023 and has invited fresh applications for licenses for the imports till June 15.

 

'The applications shall be considered on actual user basis to processors only, based upon their own processing capacity is required to be provided,' the DGFT said in a public notice, adding that the quantity of the imports for each applicant would be decided by the Exim Facilitation Committee.

 

In June last year, the government partially eased the norms for the import of these seeds.

India is rising in the ranks of global trade. Between 2010 and 2020, its global export share stagnated below 1.8%. But since 2021, its goods exports have held up much better than other economies in Asia. Its global export share has reached 2.6%, much higher than Vietnam's 1.5%, and only slightly below South Korea's 2.7%. Although it is still trailing far behind China, India is beginning to punch its weight in global exports.

 

So, what's happening? There are five structural shifts:

 

Geopolitics: Since the US-China trade war, MNCs have intensified their search for manufacturing alternatives to China. China's share in US imports has slid by 2.5 percentage points to 15.5% since end-2019. Its Asian peers, including India, have benefited from this shift. India's share of US imports has risen from 2.3% to 2.7% over the same period. In absolute terms, India's share is still small. But there is considerable room to grow, given the large scale of production that India offers.

 

Some other economies, like Vietnam, have already won a larger share of the shifting supply chains. This is partly due to long-standing preferential access that Vietnam enjoys in the US market - it signed a free trade deal way back in 2000 - which India does not.

 

Offshoring of services: India already has an established business model for (offshored) IT service exports. The surge in labour costs in developed markets and a global push to digitisation during the pandemic meant a host of other services - financial, business, research, consulting, etc - are increasingly being offshored to India.

 

In FY2021 and FY2022, combined fixed FDI into financial and business services rose to $45.6 billion, much higher than the $25.6 billion into manufacturing. This surge in investment has led to a rapid expansion of global capability centres (GCCs), a market expected to reach $85 billion from an estimated $40 billion currently. This also marks a welcome diversification in India's service export basket. Business services, for example, have had a stronger run than IT services in recent quarters, keeping aggregate services exports resilient.

 

Make in India: GoI has focused on infrastructure build-up via record budgetary allocations to capex, alongside production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes to boost manufacturing and exports. Some of it is already yielding results. India's mobile phone exports, for example, have spiked in the last two years.

 

Exchange rate management: RBI has probably actively pursued a depreciated nominal effective exchange rate (NEER) to support manufacturing and exports. This is evident from the continuous decline in NEER in recent years, simultaneous to the rise in forex reserves. In fact, RBI has not allowed the rupee to appreciate, although external headwinds that led to the currency's decline in 2022 have receded.

 

This shift in RBI's forex policy is not surprising. Policymakers have considered stable, undervalued exchange rates as necessary (if not sufficient) tools in the policy arsenal to support manufacturing and exports in the early phases of growth and industrial development.

 

Trade deals: Unlike the four other structural forces already playing out, a greater focus on trade deals, which will lead to greater gains in the medium term, may not be showing up in the data yet. But it will be a vital cog in the wheel.

 

For about a decade since 2011, India did not negotiate a single trade deal with any major economy. It is also the same period when its share of global exports stagnated. Preferential market access is undoubtedly vital to export ambitions. New Delhi has made a good start with the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) coming into force last year. It still needs to put a lot of diplomatic effort in this direction.

 

For perspective, Vietnam's numerous trade deals bestow it preferential access to more than 80% of global GDP. For India, this metric is only about 20-25%. India has much lower labour costs than other major Asian economies and, more importantly, offers scale with its large labour force. In the past, these were insufficient to attract MNCs into export-oriented investments. But the structural forces discussed above have cast India in a new light.

 

The structural boosts to exports are still at a nascent stage and have a considerable way to go. Take the supply chain diversification out of China. For every 1% gain in US import share, India can add an estimated $30-40 billion to its annual exports. Thanks to 'Make in India', global electronics giant Apple is looking to increase India's production share to 40-45% by 2027, up from less than 5% currently. For perspective, Apple's iPhone sales in 2022 reaped $206 billion in revenues.

 

For India to emerge as the new export powerhouse, it needs to enhance the whole foreign trade ecosystem. Isolated boosts won't cut it. It needs increased preferential access via free trade deals with more countries, stable and competitive exchange rates, improving infrastructure and policy support for manufacturing, and continued supply of inputs like labour with required skills will all be indispensable. From here on, much depends on whether policymakers can maintain the momentum.

As per the Agroforestry Report 2023, cultivation of fruits and vegetables has gradually become a field of immense possibilities for the farmers of Uttar Pradesh. The Yogi Government has been consistently encouraging the farmers to diversify cultivation of crops according to market demand for better income.

 

The government ensured production of high-quality plants in the Centers of Excellence and the Mini Centers of Excellence, which are then provided to farmers at minimum rates; controlled temperature and humidity for protected cultivation and the modernisation of markets (mandis). The result is there for all to see:

 

According to a report released here on Wednesday, the share of state in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables has increased from 7.2 to 9.2 per cent in the country within a decade while the Gross Value Output (GVO) obtained from it has increased from Rs 20,600 crore to Rs 38,000 crore.

 

It is noteworthy here that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has always encouraged farmers to cultivate fruits and vegetables since his first term in view of its immense potential both in terms of its consumption in the domestic and international markets as well as for the growth of processing units.

 

More than a year ago, when the Yogi Government took over for the second time in the state, it set an ambitious target for the Department of Agriculture regarding expansion of the area of cultivation, increase in yield and processing for the next 5 years. As per the plan, the area under horticulture crops has to be expanded from 11.6 to 16 per cent and food processing from 6 percent to 20 percent in UP by 2027. This has been done considering the possibility of a large number of processing units to be set up, which will require fruits and vegetables as raw material on a large scale.

 

Quality planting material (plants and seeds) plays the most important role in achieving the set target in horticulture. For this, the government will set up an Excellence Centre, Mini Excellence Center or Hi-Tech Nursery in every district within a stipulated time period. For example, the Center of Excellence is under construction in Chandauli, Kaushambi, Saharanpur, Lucknow, Kushinagar and Hapur.

 

Similarly, Mini Centers of Excellence are functional in Bahraich, Ambedkar Nagar, Mau, Fatehpur, Aligarh, Rampur, and Hapur. Mini centers of excellence/hi-tech nurseries are also under construction at Sonbhadra, Moradabad, Agra, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mahoba, Jhansi, Barabanki, Lucknow, Chandauli, Gonda, Balrampur, Badaun, Firozabad, Shamli and Mirzapur. By 2027, the government plans to have such infrastructure in every district.

 

Due to the encouragement from the government and increasing possibilities, the area under cultivation of fruits and vegetables has increased by more than 1.01 lakh hectares and the yield by more than 0.7 per cent in the last six years.

 

To provide quality plants to farmers, the Indo Israel Centres of Excellence for Fruits and Vegetables were established in Basti and Kannauj, respectively.

 

To grow quality plants and vegetables out of season by controlling moisture and temperature, the work of promoting protected cultivation is also going on continuously by employing Indo-Israel technology.

 

In the last 5 years, 177 hectares of poly house/ shed net were expanded for the production of flowers and vegetables, benefiting 5549 farmers. Constant efforts are made to continue this trend in Yogi-2.0.

 

Dr. SP Singh, Vegetable Scientist said, 'The most effective means of increasing the income of the farmers in Uttar Pradesh is the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and spices. Having 9 types of agro-climatic zones, cultivation of all types of fruits, vegetables and flowers is possible in different regions.

 

Small-marginal farmers will play an important role because they constitute about 90 percent of the total number of farmers, doing traditional farming of paddy, wheat, sugarcane etc. If their income is to be increased then they should be encouraged for the cultivation of fruits, vegetables and flowers.'

The first Round Table Joint Meeting between India and New Zealand with the industry and industry associations of both the countries took place today in New Delhi. The meeting was co-chaired by the Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Government of India, Shri Rajesh Agarwal and High Commissioner of New Zealand in India, Mr. David Pine. 

 

Looking at the present quantum of bilateral trade between the two countries, both sides acknowledged the huge potential in India and New Zealand partnership and the need for bringing in synergy for enhanced economic relations in areas of mutual interest.  It was a common understanding that there is a need to work beyond any free trade agreement and explore other areas where both can complement each other. The discussions also focused on taking forward the objectives of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC), formed under the Bilateral Trade Agreement of 1986.

 

The New Zealand High Commissioner, in his brief remark emphasized on collective efforts keeping in mind the principles of mutual benefits, proportionality, facilitating trade and association with private sectors.  Some of the areas explored by him included promotion of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system, carbon credit co-operation, economic co-operation through sectoral arrangements and working together on specific issues like the comprehensive proposal made by Zespri and prioritization of requests on non-tariff measures for bilateral gains to the businesses of both the sides.  The High Commissioner also informed that India New Zealand Business Council has brought out a report in April, 2023 on 'India New Zealand –Relationship ready for next phase', reflecting feasible areas of co-operative activities for economic prosperity. He also emphasized on increasing the air connectivity links between the two countries.

 

Shri Rajesh Agarwal mentioned about strengthening the existing institutional mechanism for improving bilateral trade and emphasized on creation of structure for working on cooperation and collaboration issues. This could include establishing a working group at Joint Secretary level to work on specific identified issues and once the ideas and the corresponding co-operative activities are concretized, the same can be scaled up and finalized during the Joint Trade Committee meeting.  He further stated that it would require a concerted effort from both the sides and should take into account deliberations at G2G, B2B and G2B interactions. 

 

Sh. Rajesh Agarwal appreciated the positivity in discussion leading to tentative identification of various areas of cooperation including the facilitation of UPI system, carbon credit, package proposal on Kiwi fruits, trans-shipment hub, prioritization of bilateral trade issues for their timely resolution, collaboration on technology issues, cooperation in services such as work visa related issues, improving the banking relations further, etc. He emphasized on the need for a proactive operational framework for mutual benefit by creating working groups which would feed to the Joint Trade Committee with concrete ideas and the solution thereof.

 

The Indian industry representative from services sectors like IT and ITeS, logistics and banking sector as well as manufacturing sectors namely food processing, pharmaceuticals, automobile, construction and power made useful interventions on the bilateral issues and the huge potential and ample opportunities available between both the economies which needs to be nurtured through such interactions and actions thereof. 

 

The industry and industry associations from the New Zealand side, while calling it a significant moment in the economic relationship between the two countries, emphasized on the need to speed up the activities and continue the dialogue in a more structured way like the present one.

 

Both the sides were unanimous on the need for having more government to industry dialogues for concrete mutual benefits.

As wheat procurement for the current season draws to a close, the Government is optimistic that there is enough stock available with farmers and traders to meet domestic demand and there will unlikely be a need for imports.

 

'As of date, the need for import has not been felt. Production has been good. Since there is a prohibition in force, that means there is adequate stock with farmers and traders. The FCI (Food Corporation of India) also has adequate stocks,' Santosh Sarangi, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), told businessline.

 

Stocks vs demand

Wheat procurement in the current rabi season was at 26.2 million tonnes (mt) as of June 6, which has already surpassed last year’s total procurement of 18.8 mt. The wheat stock with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has improved to 31.2 mt as of May 30 from 29.03 mt as of May 1, whereas the annual requirement of the government for public distribution and other welfare schemes is 18.4 mt.

 

Despite untimely rains, major contributing factors to healthy procurement this year have been the grant of relaxation by the government in quality specifications of wheat affected by rains, opening of procurement centres at village and panchayat level, carrying out procurement through co-operative societies, gram panchayats, and arhatias, and permission to engage FPOs for procurement operations, the Food Ministry said last week in a statement.

 

However, looking at the mandi prices prevailing in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the current procurement season, where normally farmers used to sell below minimum support price (MSP), many traders are sceptical about the government’s estimate of record production of nearly 112 mt. The Roller Flour Millers Association of India, which hired a private agency, has pegged the production close to 103 mt.

 

‘Just rumours’

Some traders may be spreading rumours about a possible shortage of wheat and the need to import as they want a rate increase for the wheat stock they have aggregated, another official tracking the matter said.

 

'It is difficult to believe that any stockist will buy at a higher price. Had the production been at record, prices could not have gone above MSP when exports are banned, and there is no possibility of opening the window this year,' said a trader. With current duty of 40 per cent at $290/tonne free-on-board, wheat is unlikely to be imported even in southern ports, the trader said. Any decision on import has to be at zero duty, and it may help cool the sentiments, he added.

 

The all-India average retail price of wheat has softened from a peak of ?33.21/kg in February to ?31.27/kg in May, but it is still higher by 6.5 per cent from a year ago (May 2022). Atta (wheat flour) prices were higher by 10.5 per cent at ?36.42/kg last month from a year ago, though down from a record ?37.8/kg in February this year, consumer affairs ministry data show.

 

Ahead of the historic US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two countries have launched a strategic trade dialogue here during which officials reviewed the ongoing cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share the best practices to further the bilateral ties. At the inaugural India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue (IUSSTD), the Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra. The US delegation was co-led by Alan Estevez, Under Secretary for Industry and Security in the US Department of Commerce and Ambassador Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the US Department of State.

 

The dialogue is a key mechanism to take forward the strategic technology and trade collaborations envisaged under the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET).

 

The meeting took place ahead of Prime Minister Modi's maiden state visit to the US at the invitation of President Joe Biden. Modi will be visiting the US from June 21 to 24.

 

It focused on ways in which both governments can facilitate the development and trade of technologies in critical domains such as semiconductors, space, telecom, quantum, AI, defence, bio-tech and others, a media release from the Indian embassy here said.

 

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the relevant bilateral export control regulations with the objective of building and diversifying resilient supply chains for these strategic technologies.

 

They reviewed ongoing cooperation in multilateral export control regimes and agreed to share the best practices.

 

Both sides agreed to enhance awareness among the industry, academia and other stakeholders about the export control regimes through workshops and other activities.

 

'They acknowledged that the dialogue would be instrumental to enabling co-production, co-development and enhanced industrial collaborations in critical technologies,' the statement said.

 

'They agreed to set up a regular monitoring group which will review progress in deepening cooperation in the bilateral high-tech trade and technology partnership. The co-chairs agreed to continue the dialogue with the objective of strengthening the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership,' the statement said.

Prices of rice exported from top hub India jumped to their highest since early March this week, driven by tight supplies and a move to raise the government-mandated price for paddy, while rates for the staple from Thailand eased on lower demand.

 

India's 5% broken parboiled variety was quoted at $388-$395 per tonne, up from last week's $375-$380.

 

India on Wednesday raised the price at which it will buy new-season common rice paddy from farmers by 7% to 2,183 rupees per 100 kg.

 

'Paddy prices have gone up in the local market in the last one month anticipating a hike in support prices. It is ultimately pushing up rice export prices,' said Himanshu Agarwal, executive director at Satyam Balajee, an exporter.

 

Neighbouring Bangladesh imported 634,000 tonnes of rice to ensure food security in the first 11 months of the current financial year ending in June, data from its food ministry showed.

 

Bangladesh, which often requires imports to cope with shortages caused by natural calamities, doesn't need to import rice in the coming fiscal year given good domestic yield, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder had said.

 

Thailand's 5% broken rice prices were quoted at $490-$495 per tonne, slightly down from last week's $495.

 

Demand was still flat and additional supply was expected next month during the harvest, a Bangkok-based trader said.

 

Another trader said demand from African countries has been quiet because Thai prices were higher compared to India, while prices were supported by concerns of droughts and exports to Indonesia.

 

Vietnam's 5% broken rice rates were unchanged at $490-$495 per tonne.

 

Traders said they are speeding up rice purchases from farmers to fulfil export contracts for the year.

 

State media cited the Vietnam Food Association as saying that high prices have encouraged farmers to invest more in the summer-autumn crop.

Kerala has secured the first position in the national food safety index of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

 

Health Minister Veena George, in a statement here, claimed that the ranking secured by the State was in recognition of the streamlined and consistent activities of the State in the area of food safety.

 

She said the Food Safety Department’s revenue in 2022-23, through the imposition of fines for violation of food safety and standards, registered an increase of 193% more than the previous year. In 2022-23, the department’s revenue was ?28.94 crore. Till now, the highest revenue registered by the department was in 2018-19, when the fines totalled ?15.41 crore.

 

The award for securing the ranking was received by Food Safety Commissioner V.R. Vinod from Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

 

The food safety index, at the national level, is determined on the basis of enforcement activities such as food safety checks, sample collection, sample examination prosecution cases, number of NABL-recognised food safety labs in the State, efficiency and expertise of labs, FoSTaC training received by the food safety laboratory staff, State-level implementation of FSSAI’s Eat Right initiatives, and food safety awareness efforts of the department.

 

The statement said some of the initiatives taken up by the department, including the implementation of the food safety village scheme in 140 panchayats, the Safe and Nutritious Food at Schools initiative, and the 3,000-odd food safety awareness classes helped Kerala secure the first place in the index.

 

Ms. George said as per a directive of FSSAI, the State celebrated International Year of Millets (2023) by organising 26 millet fests across districts. Also, 148 eat right fests were also held, for which the State received accolades.

 

A district food safety team on Wednesday held a millet theme-based workshop in collaboration with entrepreneur Shreya Maini on the occasion of World Food Safety Day. Maini showcased her millet-based sweet delicacies made without sugar, flour, maida or preservatives.

 

Different types of millet-based cookies were also on display to make people aware of the health benefits of the grain. The workshop was held here under the supervision of Civil Surgeon Dr Raman Sharma. A lecture was also delivered highlighting the benefits of adding millets in diet. District Health Officer Dr Reema Jammu said Maini was also a part of the G20 Summit held in Amritsar this year where she had showcased her recipes before foreign delegates.

The new dialogue mechanism was launched during commerce secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to New Delhi in March

 

Foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra meets US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and Under Secretary for Industry and Security Alan Estevez at the first meeting of the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue (IUSSTD), in Washington on Tuesday. (Victoria Nuland Twitter)

 

Washington Two weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s State visit, India and the US held the first Strategic Trade Dialogue with a focused agenda of reviewing existing US export control regulations that affect the development of strategic trade in emerging and critical technologies in Washington DC on Tuesday.

 

Foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra led the Indian delegation while State department’s undersecretary for political affairs Victoria Nuland and Commerce department’s undersecretary for industry and security Alan Estevez led the US side during the talks. The new dialogue mechanism was launched during commerce secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to New Delhi in March and represents a key institutional innovation to unlock the potential of high-tech trade between the two countries envisaged as a part of the initiative on critical and emerging technologies (ICET).

 

In a statement after the talks, the Indian side said that the dialogue 'focused on ways in which both governments can facilitate the development and trade of technologies in critical domains such as semiconductors, space, telecom, quantum, AI, defence, biotech and others'.