Fruit Export Doubles In April-August

 Triggered by a sharp increase in the shipment of bananas, India's export of fresh fruit doubled in the first five months of the current financial year, on rising demand in Gulf countries after crop failure in Philippines and Ecuador, two major alternative suppliers.

Data from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) showed India's fresh fruit export at 409,921 tonnes during the period between April and August, from 195,259 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. In value terms, however, it was up only 26 per cent to $256 million (Rs 1,720 crore), from $203 mn (Rs 1,360 crore) in the corresponding period last year.


This means the realisation from fruit export has failed to keep pace with the growth in volume. This is due to poor post-harvest management, reducing the shelf life. "The exponential growth in volume is mainly because of sharp increase in shipment of banana to the Gulf countries, Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Because of crop failure in competing countries, exporters are getting a good opportunity. This has also resulted in entry of many opportunistic exporters, affecting the entire trade," said Dattatraya More, general manager (fruits), Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals, also known as Desai Fruits.

Trade sources estimate a little over 40 per cent contribution of banana in the overall shipment of fresh fruit in these five months. Indian banana is cheaper than the same fruit sourced from other origins. In Dubai's auction, our banana was sold at half the price of the fruit from Philippines and Ecuador; India is also said to produce the best quality in the world.

Even so, for a 13-kg box, Indian exporters fetched $7.50-8, against $18-24 by those from Philippines and Ecuador. "The realisation for Indian banana exporters is much lower as most are not adopting post-harvest practices of international standard. They adopt short cuts to grab large market shares. Therefore, despite having superior quality, Indian export fetches lower value," said an exporter.

The quality of banana remains in order till harvesting but because of poor handling, the quality then deteriorates. Also, unscientific ripening practices adopted by short-term players reduces shelf life.

The government has mandated modern and scientific packing houses for export of mango and grapes. "The government has taken up the matter very seriously. Already, Apeda has sought compulsory registration of exporters of mango and grapes. Gradually, the same practice will come for banana. Then, fly-by-night operators would run away from the system," hopes More.

More is also being done to educate farmers on quality improvement. "The future for Indian produce is bright. This is just the start. As farmers get more aware of global trends, things will further improve, noted Tarun Arora, Director, IG International, also noting new cold store facilities and improving road infrastructure.

 

Sources :business-standard.com

Tata Steel Expects Steel Demand To Bounce Back

KOLKATA: Tata Steel expects steel demand to bounce back in the second half of the fiscal year, led by segments like passenger vehicle sales, construction and rural homes, in what perhaps marks the first upbeat remark from a top manufacturer about the domestic steel market that has been sagging for a year and half.

“We see the steel sector picking up during the second half riding on auto, construction and rural demand. Indian demand should be met out of Indian production of steel. Imports are not the best way for it,” vice president for steel marketing and sales Peeyush Gupta told ET in an exclusive interview.

The automotive sector accounts for nearly 18% of Tata Steel’s sales by value. A revival in the sector — sales have been strong for car and two-wheeler makers for several months now and they are expecting a bumper festival period — is making the company upbeat about demand from that sector. In commercial vehicles, order books are full in segments like excavation and mining equipment.

State and central government funding in infrastructure and construction, particularly in flyovers, bridges, airport terminals and roads, is expected to see a rise, with the railways too likely to add to the construction boom. “Since steel accounts for 50% of construction, we are betting big on it to raise overall demand,” Gupta said.

“The rural market is doing well, particularly in the individual homebuilding segment where steel accounts for some 12-15% of cost, with growth also picking up in Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 towns,” Gupta said. In rural and in semi-urban and urban areas in top 40 towns including places like Rohtak, Gorakhpur or Kanpur, Tata Steel expects a spurt in sales of its branded galvanized corrugated sheets for roofing, along with tubes and bearings. It also expects demand from segments related to agriculture. However, in Tier 1 cities, where the builders or promoters are mainly involved in residential segment, demand is yet to pick up.

“Retail and branded steel now account for 45% of our sales by value compared to 2001 when it accounted for only 5% of sales. In this, the SME segment is critical for us since it accounts for nearly 20% of our branded retail sales by value. We have systematically targeted them since they want the steel to come to them,” Gupta said.

Traditionally, the SME segment has been underserved by the steel industry. Tata Steel has created a separate distribution channel for it and also introduced watermarking of steel to add to its authenticity. It is also going deeper into villages with hardware shops located within a 5-10 km radius. Expansion to capacity, like addition of a thin slab caster, and the new Kalinganagar plant in Odisha is poised to reduce the company’s commodity play further.

Share of value-added products, which now contribute some 10-15% of sales, is set to go up further with special quality steels for gas cylinders, oil pipes, medium carbon pipes and high-end engineering being added to its portfolio. An emphasis on value engineering, where Tata Steel is a collaboration partner for auto companies in design and prototyping, is also set to increase its share in automotive segment from the current level of 18%.

“India is a good place to make cars since it has the right ecosystem in terms of technology, talent and policies,”

 

Soources :thehindubusinessline.com

Why India Will Never Have Zero Coal Import Bill

 The Narendra Modi government has been working on cutting the country's coal import bill of over 1 lakh crore annually. Power minister Piyush Goyal has insisted the government would stop coal imports and make way for domestic coal going ahead.

However, the plan to replace imports with domestic output may falter on a crucial affliction - lack of coking coal reserves that is used as a raw material in steel making and allied industries. The country imported around 200 million tonne (MT) of coal last financial year to top up domestic production of 640 MT.

Coal in India is used either from domestic sources, mostly mined by coal India, or is imported. The imports are mainly to compensate the lack of good quality coal, especially coking coal from the mining sources in the country.

Coking coal is imported by state-run Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and other steel manufacturing units mainly to bridge the gap between the requirement and indigenous availability and to improve the quality.

Coal based power plants, cement plants, captive power plants, sponge iron plants, industrial consumers and coal traders are importing non-coking coal. Coke is imported mainly by pig-iron manufacturers and iron and steel sector consumers using mini-blast furnace.

However, India does not have enough reserves for good quality coking coal and most of it is imported from Indonesia, South Africa, Russia and Australia.

Experts say, it is this requirement of coking coal added with power plants whose boilers are designed to run only on imported coal, which is likely to continue importing coal in the coming years.

"Talking in aggregate terms does not really help. Let us subdivide the import requirement of the country into three parts. One is of coking coal, where we have traditionally had a deficit. So, we have been importers of coking coal for a long-long time," Vivek Bharadwaj, joint secretary, Ministry of Coal, told ETEnergyworld.

He added this coal requirement will not end any time soon. "Also, we have power plants at the coasts which are based on imported coal. Their boilers are designed only for imported coal. They will continue to use imported coal. So, it is only the third category of thermal power plants which were using imported coal as a substitute for domestic coal because if its scarcity, which we can do something about," Bharadwaj explained.

As per provisional government figures, India's 200 MT of coal imports last fiscal included 43.50 million tonne of coking coal and 156.38 million tonne non-coking or thermal coal. This financial year (2016-17), the government had imported over 35 million tonne coal by the end of May.

However, the government is now taking steps to ramp up the production of coking coal in the country and curtail the use of imported coal. "Last year, there has been a drop of Rs 23,000 crore in the import bill," Bharadwaj said. "We are trying to map out these industries, with both power and non-power use, which will still continue to import coal in the near future."

Similarly, for plants situated at the coasts, switching to domestic coal would be a big challenge as the process would involve changes in its boilers, which involve huge costs.

 

Sources: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Why The Central Government Should Go All Out To Expand Oil Palm Cultivation

The Indian edible oil sector is the world’s fourth-largest after the US, China and Brazil and accounts for around 9 per cent of the world’s oilseed production.

An irony of this industry is its heavy dependence on imports. Cooking oil imports are all set to touch a record 15 million tonnes (mt) in the current, 2015-16 Oil Year, ending October. Out of the 15 mt, palm oil imports alone account for 9 mt or 60 per cent.

The reason for palm oil occupying the lion’s share of the total consumption is because palm is generally the cheapest commodity vegetable oil and also the cheapest oil to produce and refine globally.

Therefore, focussed palm oil cultivation will undoubtedly play a key role in addressing the domestic shortfall in edible oil consumption and lowering India’s edible oil import bill and saving foreign exchange.
Highest-yielding crop

A distinct advantage that palm enjoys is that it is the highest-yielding perennial edible oil crop and needs a fraction of the area used to grow in comparison to other oilseeds. This is indeed potentially attractive in a country like India, where land is increasingly scarce as the population rockets.

On a per-hectare basis, oil palm trees are 6-10 times more efficient at producing oil than temperate oilseed crops such as rapeseed, soyabean, sunflower or ground nut. For example, while a hectare of land can yield 300-400 kg of groundnut oil, nearly 4 tonnes of palm oil can be produced from a hectare of land.
The case for palm oil

P Rethinam, a plantation crop management specialist, in his detailed report titled ‘Increasing Vegetable Oil Production through Oil Palm Cultivation in India’ observes: “27 million hectares of nine oilseed crops produce about 9 million tonnes of oil per year but 2 million hectares of oil palm could produce 8 million tonnes of crude palm oil, 0.8 million tonnes of palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, bio mass for bio energy, eco-friendly bio-diesel, etc.” There is a big potential to raise the acreage of palm, which is currently cultivated on about 200,000 hectares. According to OPDPA, India has the potential to expand the acreage to 20 lakh hectares, keeping in view the demand. If this is done, the palm oil industry, which provides employment to 20,000 people, can create two lakh additional jobs.

Indian palm oil production is estimated at 1.7 lakh tonnes for 2014-15, up from 0.6 lakh tonnes in 2010-11. Palm oil cultivation has grown from zero to 2,00,000 hectares in the past two decades.

The Central government has been trying, for many years now, to reduce its dependence on imported edible oils by encouraging farmers to take up palm cultivation. In an encouraging move, the current government has announced a package of ?10,000 crore over three years, which is intended to support farmers until the trees begin to yield (it takes three to five years for the palm tree to start yielding fruit).

The government has identified nine States with suitable climatic conditions. In November 2015, the government has also allowed 100 per cent FDI in palm oil plantations, a move the industry believes will boost domestic production, bring in more funds and newer technologies into the sector.
Industry challenges

However, there are several road blocks for India preventing it from successfully expanding on its domestic palm oil cultivation. First and foremost, lack of large land tracts is a major constraint.

The industry wants the government to declare palm oil as a plantation crop to move it out of the Land Ceiling Act. Moreover, the current import duty is not supportive of oil palm farmers and the industry.

Secondly, the Indian edible oil industry has been urging the government to maintain a duty differential of at least 15 per cent on crude and refined oil to protect the interests of refineries. Domestic edible oil refiners are facing a surge of imports of refined oil over the last few months, reducing their capacity utilisation to 30-40 per cent from 55-60 per cent a year ago.

Last month, the Centre lowered the import duty on crude palm oil from 12.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent and on refined oil from 20 per cent to 15 per cent. Hence, there was no change at all in the duty differential and the move is not expected to have any impact on either the industry or farmers.

The government needs to provide a level playing field to the domestic refining industry. Otherwise, Indian edible oil importers will be perpetually fighting a losing battle with cheap rival palm oil from top producers Malaysia and Indonesia.
Conclusion

A focus on palm oil cultivation is key to India’s goal of attaining self-sufficiency in vegetable oils over the next decade. The palm oil industry deserves the highest priority and encouragement from the government to meet the internal demand of edible oil, resulting in a strong imprint on savings of foreign exchange, employment generation and boosting India’s food security.

 

Sources :hindubusinessline.com

Rupee Recovers Over 20 Paise Against Dollar, Ends At 66.72

Indian rupee recovered over 20 paise against the US dollar on Friday on account of increased selling of the American currency by banks and exporters. Rupee closed 22 paise up at 66.72 against the US dollar. The local currency slipped 40 paise on Thursday and closed at fresh three-week low of 66.94 against the dollar on rising concerns over interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

Meanwhile, domestic equity markets traded choppy in a narrow range and ended in green. Concern about the global economy contributed to the early weakness, while value buying at reduced levels after the drop helped the bourses in some recovery. This week has seen brutal cuts on equity markets globally as investors contend with weak China data, weak start to earnings in the US and now almost 70 per cent probability of rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the Indian equity markes as they sold shares worth of Rs 846 crore on Friday, according to the provisional data available with NDSL.

US Dollar Index declined by 0.45 per cent in Thursday’s trading session due to unfavourable economic data from the country. However, sharp fall in the currency was cushioned due to rise in risk aversion in global markets which led to increase in demand for the low yielding currency.

US Unemployment Claims remained unchanged at 246,000 for the week ending on 7th Oct’16. Import Prices grew by 0.1 percent in September with respect to decline of 0.2 percent in August.

 

Sources :.financialexpress.com