Philippines seen to reduce rice imports this year.
The country’s rice imports are expected to decline this year but remain large enough to drive down the selling prices of local rice farmers despite the continuing shortfall in domestic production. 'It might level off but still [reach] over 4 million [metric] tons, mainly due to the drop in palay prices and the widening gap between requirements and local production,' Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) national manager Raul Montemayor said in a Viber message on Tuesday.
Source: business.inquirer.net
Indian rice likely to gain from US tariff war with Mexico, Canada.
Even as US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs send the world into a spin, India can look to tap an unlikely opportunity – the country can export rice to Mexico, Canada and other countries that import rice from the US. The reciprocal tariff regime could impact its rice exports and this could be a great opportunity for India, a rice-surplus country, according to Samarendu Mohanty, an acclaimed global rice expert.
Source: thehindubusinessline.com
Sugar export quota of 1 million tonne will be met in two months: ISMA.
India will easily exhaust its 1 million tonne sugar export quota allowed by the government for the current marketing year, Deepak Ballani, Director General of Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) told ANI. Sugar marketing season in India runs from October to September.
Source: theprint.in
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal heads to US for trade talks as Trump tariffs loom, officials say.
India's trade minister Piyush Goyal started on a trip to the United States on Monday to pursue trade talks, two government officials said, with weeks to go for President Donald Trump's planned reciprocal tariffs. Goyal's visit was sudden, as he departed after cancelling previously scheduled meetings until March 8, the officials said. He is also the minister for industry.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Andhra Pradesh's Araku Coffee earns organic certification, secures buyers from Europe, Tata group.
Andhra Pradesh's Girijan Cooperative Corporation Ltd (GCC) has achieved a significant milestone with its organic certification for Araku coffee, enabling it to enter several European markets and secure a major domestic buyer in Tata Consumer Products, who will handle the marketing and sale of the coffee. GCC Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Kalpana Kumari, said the response to this initiative has been overwhelmingly positive. Building on this success, the corporation plans to extend its organic certification efforts to include pepper, in partnership with Tata Consumer Products.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Thailand Pushes For Enhanced Trade Ties With India.
Thailand is making significant strides toward enhancing its economic outlook through potential trade agreements with India, particularly focusing on the elevation of the existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations and boosting bilateral trade relations. This development emerges following discussions on February 26, 2025, between Phichai Naripthaphan, Thailand’s Minister of Commerce, and Suman Berry, Vice-Chairman of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog).
Source: evrimagaci.org
India, Israel discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in agri sector.
Ambassador of Israel to India Reuven Azar on Friday called on Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi and discussed opportunities for strengthening cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors between the two nations. The meeting focused on the upcoming visit of the Israel Agriculture and Food Security Minister, the impact of Centers of Excellence (CoEs) across 20 states on productivity, precision irrigation, post-harvest management, and market access issues.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Shift towards developed markets: India's FTA needle turns to the West.
It is exactly 25 years of India’s free trade agreement (FTA) journey, started in the year 2000 when India-Sri Lanka FTA came into effect on 1st March, 2000. Post that, India turned its focus towards East under much published “Look East Policy” and went on to sign FTAs with Singapore, ASEAN, Korea, Japan, and Malaysia. The idea was to diversify India’s export market beyond the West to new emerging economies in the East. Practically during this period, India’s entire focus remained on the Asia-Pacific Region. The much-publicised RCEP, from which India eventually pulled out, too comprised countries from Asia-Pacific region.
Source: business-standard.com
ICAR-CIPHET Licenses Groundnut and Makhana Processing Technologies to Karnataka and Bihar Firms.
ICAR-Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (ICAR-CIPHET), Ludhiana, is spearheading innovation in food processing by transferring advanced technologies to forward-thinking entrepreneurs. Recently, the institute licensed its technology for groundnut-based products to a firm in Karnataka and provided state-of-the-art makhana processing machinery to a company in Bihar.
Source: krishijagran.com
Ukraine, trade talks on table as Jaishankar visits UK today.
Days after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted an emergency meeting of European leaders in support of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — after the latter’s public showdown with US President Donald Trump and Vice-President J D Vance at the White House — External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is headed to London to meet the British government’s leadership, including Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Source: indianexpress.com