As reported, the agreement was reached in a meeting between Iran's Deputy Agriculture Minister Mohammad Mehdi Borumandi and Secretary of India's Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry Manoj Ahuja in New Delhi.

 

Borumandi, who has traveled to New Delhi to hold talks on the agricultural cooperation between Iran and India, met with his Indian counterpart to review the latest status of bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture.

 

The officials also agreed to hold the first joint working group on agricultural cooperation between the two countries in the near future.

 

In the meeting, Borumandi stressed Iran's readiness for cooperation in various fields including horticultural products, medicinal plants, combating plant pests, agricultural technologies, exchange of professors and experts, and cooperation between research institutions of the two countries.

 

He considered the removal of tariff barriers on agricultural trade as a necessity for the future expansion of relations.

 

Manoj Ahuja, for his part, highlighted the cultural and geographical affinities between the two nations and expressed his country's readiness to develop agricultural relations with Iran.

 

Welcoming the fields proposed by the Iranian side for cooperation, the Indian official announced that the ban on the exports of kiwi to India, which had been temporarily prohibited since last year due to quarantine considerations, has been lifted.

 

The trade between Iran and India reached $510 million in the first quarter of the current year, according to the data released by India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

 

According to the report, agricultural products and especially rice had the largest share in India’s exports to Iran. Rice accounted for 63 percent of the total volume of exports, while fruits with $15 million, and tea with $10 million ranked second and third.

The Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, discussed with the visiting Ambsaddors from Africa how New Delhi plans to work towards making Africa a top priority for trade and said India is open for Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with African nations.

 

'This is the beginning of a new engagement and reaffirmed that India would act as a trusted partner to expand trade, commerce, business, investment and opportunities between the two nations.India is open to FTA negotiations bilaterally or individually with African countries or Africa as a whole,' said Goyal.

 

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal hosted 15 ambassadors from African countries on Thursday to discuss ways to strengthen trade and investment ties between India and the African countries.

 

The bilateral trade between India and 48 African countries was USD 74.86 billion in 2021-22, witnessing a growth of 59.91% compared to 2020-21.

 

Ambassadors from key African nations namely Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Republic of Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe discussed ways to improve their partnership with India, thereby promoting bilateral trade, registering new partnerships.

 

According to data available at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’s exports to Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) region were at USD 33.08 billion and recorded a growth of 44.31% in 2021-22 vis a vis 2020-21. Whereas India’s imports from SSA region registered a growth of 74.87%, and were valued at USD 41.77 billion during the same period.

 

India primarily exports petroleum products and pharmacueticals to Africa. While on the other hand India imports gold, crude oil, coal and other minerals from it.

 

India's attempt to have fruitful ties with African countries is in tune with the fact that the continent is surfaced with abundant natural resources, an aid for Indian businesses, which can boost economic activity and trade between India and Africa.

 

'Through increased trade and investment, both India and Africa can benefit from each other's strengths and expertise, fostering inclusive growth and job creation,' a release by the Ministry said.

Union cabinet minister Piyush Goyal on Monday announced India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to raise non-petroleum bilateral trade worth $100 billion by 2030.

 

'We have agreed to look at non petroleum trade instead of just petroleum products in this bilateral trade. We have agreed to double non petroleum trade in next seven years by increasing imports to $100 billion,' said Goyal.

 

The remarks were made by the commerce minister in a joint press conference with UAE foreign trade minister Thani bin ahmed Al Zeyoudi which was held to discuss Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

 

Major imported items by India from UAE include petroleum crude (US$ 12,756 million) followed by petroleum products (US$ 6,862 million).

 

CEPA which was signed between the two nations has earlier offered various benefits to the two nations. The agreement covers almost all the tariff lines dealt in by India (11,908 tariff lines) and the UAE (7581 tariff lines) respectively.

 

The UAE, with which India implemented a comprehensive free trade agreement in May last year, emerged as the fourth largest investor in India during 2022-23, according to a recent government data.

 

In the last fiscal, foreign direct investment (FDI) from the UAE to India jumped over three-fold to USD 3.35 billion from USD 1.03 billion in 2021-22, the data of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) showed.

 

UAE's investments in India are mainly in sectors like services, sea transport, power and construction activities. Major imported items by India from UAE include petroleum crude (US$ 12,756 million) followed by petroleum products (US$ 6,862 million), etc. during April-November 2022, as said by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), started by Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Easy availability of affordable trade finance is the key to achieving India's $2 trillion exports target by 2030 in goods and services boosting export competitiveness, a senior government official said in an ASSOCHAM event on Thursday.

 

Subhash Chandra Aggarwal, additional director general of foreign trade (DGFT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that traders and the government have to work on issues like obtaining easy finance both for domestic and cross-border trade.

 

India has set an ambitious target to take its total goods and services exports to $2 trillion by 2030.

 

Aggarwal said that development in digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain will provide leverage to reduce the cost of financing.

 

'I am often told that obtaining finances for domestic trade is easier than obtaining financing for cross-border trade. This could be because of the higher risk perception in cross-border trade. Mitigating and correcting this perception is needed to enable us to be competent and competitive in the global market, trade finance plays a crucial role here', he added.

 

Speaking at the same event, Sanjeet Singh, senior adviser, NITI Aayog said sectors such as aluminium and steel would be "directly impacted" by the European Union's (EU) carbon tax, and exports from these segments would be subjected to a certain amount of tax.

 

'This is an example (EU’s carbon tax) where countries are going beyond the realm of the World Trade Organization (WTO). India and the EU both are members of this multi-lateral body which deals with global exports and imports,' he added.

 

Singh said recent global developments have resulted in a paradigm change in how trade is being conducted across the globe.

 

'Labour, gender, deforestation, and sustainable development have become an important part of the trade. India is fast becoming a party to a number of global alliances because of the recognition that India is a country which nobody can afford not to be doing business with,' he added.

 

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.

 

With total exports pegged at INR 12 lakhs crore, Gujarat in FY 2022-23 becomes India’s top exporter for the third consecutive year. With exports 27% higher than that made in 2021-22, Gujarat’s share in India’s total exports in 2022-23 remained 33%. In 2021-22 it was 30%.

 

Earlier, Maharashtra was ranked as the top exporter, with Gujarat bagging the second position. However, in 2020-21, Gujarat overtook Maharashtra with a narrow margin but thereafter the gap has increased and Gujarat has left Maharashtra far behind.

 

The full implementation of GST has helped the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) get accurate figures of export from all states.

 

As official from DGFT said, 'In 2020-21, we started getting accurate data from the states but that year the world was under Covid-induced lockdown. Thereafter, Gujarat’s export figures jumped over 100%.’’

 

Exporters say the major contribution to Gujarat’s export figures is petroleum products. The war between Russia and Ukraine, has resulted in a significant rise in India’s import of crude from Russia and export of refined petroleum products. India’s export of petroleum products increased more than 60% in last financial year and Gujarat was the major contributor.

 

Apart from petroleum, other major exporting items from Gujarat include ceramics, pharma, engineering goods, jems and jewellery, and chemicals. After implementation of GST, many Surat-based diamond units have started exporting from Surat instead of doing it from Mumbai where they have their offices.

 

According to exporters the weak rupee against dollar has also helped them in offering competitive rates in the international markets, enabling them to reduce their margins to give a tough fight to our competitors and get more orders.  

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.'

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.

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.

 

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.