Exports Climb 25.67 Per Cent In Sept, Imports Up 18 Per Cent

NEW DELHI: India’s merchandise exports rose sharply in September, belying fears of a slump due to disruption and working capital issues brought on by the introduction of the goods and services tax. Exports climbed 25.67 per cent in September, exceeding an 18.1 per cent increase in imports, helping to narrow the trade deficit to $8.98 billion from $9.07 billion in September 2016.

 

In absolute terms, India’s exports were pegged at $28.6 billion dollars in September against $22.8 billion a year ago, according to data released by the Commerce Department recently. Imports were up at $37.6 billion from $31.8 billion.

 

"We’re doing our best to remove all hurdles in the way of exporters, so that they focus on their core business of exports and we do the rest," said Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu. "Many more initiatives are in works to help exporters," he added.

 

"Continued improvement in the pace of growth of merchandise exports, as well as its fairly broad-based nature, suggest that concerns that arose after the transition to GST may be receding in some sectors," said Ms. Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist at ICRA.

 

There were apprehensions that exports would take a hit because of GST, which was rolled out on July 1, with refunds getting blocked.

 

The Government has already eased GST rules for exporters to reduce transition pains and speed up refunds. "In continuation with positive growth exhibited by exports for the last 13 months, exports during September 2017 have shown growth of 25.67 per cent in dollar terms," the Ministry said in a statement.

 

"We need to see if the trend continues for the next quarter and whether this growth trend will be maintained... GST has not had much impact on the export numbers and going forward, with many gaps addressed by the Government, the result should be positive," said Mr. Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist at CARE Ratings.

 

In rupee terms, both exports and imports grew at a slower pace – 21.3 per cent and 14 per cent respectively – from a year ago, showing the impact of the sharp appreciation of the rupee over this period. The increase in exports was driven by a broad-based performance, with 26 of 30 categories posting positive growth.

 

Outbound shipments of engineering goods grew 44.2 per cent, chemicals (46 per cent), petroleum products (39.7 per cent), pharmaceuticals (14.7 per cent), readymade garments (29.4 per cent) and gems and jewellery (7.1 per cent).

 

Gold imports moderated to $1.7 billion from $1.8 billion in September last year.

 

"In our view, build-up of substantial stocks over the last few months would ease the volume of gold imports during the festive and wedding season," said Nayar.

 

Higher exports will support India’s economy, which expanded 5.7 per cent in the April-June quarter, a three-year low. Part of the increase in both exports and imports was because of the rise in commodity prices. Oil and non-oil imports grew 18.5 per cent and 18 per cent to $8.18 billion and $29.4 billion, respectively.

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com

Marine Products Export Body Eyes 12% Growth In Seafood This Fiscal

MUMBAI: The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) is looking at a 10-12 per cent growth in seafood exports in the current fiscal.

 

According to MPEDA Chairman A Jayathilak, seafood exports in 2016-17 reached a record $5.8 billion and the trends in the ongoing financial year are just as encouraging.

 

Speaking at the first-of-its-kind interaction with stakeholders from the seafood sector in Gujarat, he said MPEDA has formed 600 farmer clusters across the Country under the National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture. These clusters are completely under the guidance of MPEDA and they will help the agency to export quality marine products.

 

Moreover, the set up is such that it provides 100 per cent traceability to quality issues in the farms. Such initiatives will help give a major fillip to the export of quality seafood, he said.

 

The meeting organised in Somnath in Gujarat assumes significance at a time when MPEDA stepped up its efforts to increase the share of value added products in total marine exports from 17 per cent to 30 per cent. According to him, such meetings will benefit farmers directly and avoid the intermediaries from the scene.

 

Gujarat State Government officials, aquaculture farmers, exporters and hatchery owners were among those who participated in the meeting.

 

As many as 20 aquaculture farmers participated in the event, which also offered a platform for them to establish direct linkages with exporters.

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com

China's September Imports & Exports In High Gear As Economy Expands

BEIJING: China’s import and export growth accelerated in September, suggesting the world’s second-biggest economy is still expanding at a healthy pace despite widespread forecasts of an eventual slowdown.

 

The data also suggested further improvement in the global economy, with business activity and demand having picked up markedly this year in Europe and the United States.

 

Imports grew 18.7 percent in September from a year earlier and accelerating from 13.3 percent in August, Customs data showed. Exports rose 8.1 percent, below forecasts of 8.8 percent but the most in three months and handily beating August’s 5.5 percent.

 

Once again, China’s imports were led by industrial resources as a year-long construction boom shows no signs of flagging and factories kept humming, boosting demand for materials from steel to copper.

 

Higher commodity prices greatly magnified the strength of the bounce, but volumes surged, too, pointing to still-solid underlying demand.

 

That left the Country with a trade surplus of $28.47 billion, less than the near $40 billion expected and down from around $42 billion in August.

 

China’s foreign trade will likely grow at a double-digit pace this year if current conditions continue, the General Administration of Customs said.

 

In addition to pointing to buoyant demand, some of the surge in September imports may have been due to companies “front loading” supplies ahead of a week-long national holiday in early October, analysts said.

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com

China's September Imports & Exports In High Gear As Economy Expands

BEIJING: China’s import and export growth accelerated in September, suggesting the world’s second-biggest economy is still expanding at a healthy pace despite widespread forecasts of an eventual slowdown.

 

The data also suggested further improvement in the global economy, with business activity and demand having picked up markedly this year in Europe and the United States.

 

Imports grew 18.7 percent in September from a year earlier and accelerating from 13.3 percent in August, Customs data showed. Exports rose 8.1 percent, below forecasts of 8.8 percent but the most in three months and handily beating August’s 5.5 percent.

 

Once again, China’s imports were led by industrial resources as a year-long construction boom shows no signs of flagging and factories kept humming, boosting demand for materials from steel to copper.

 

Higher commodity prices greatly magnified the strength of the bounce, but volumes surged, too, pointing to still-solid underlying demand.

 

That left the Country with a trade surplus of $28.47 billion, less than the near $40 billion expected and down from around $42 billion in August.

 

China’s foreign trade will likely grow at a double-digit pace this year if current conditions continue, the General Administration of Customs said.

 

In addition to pointing to buoyant demand, some of the surge in September imports may have been due to companies “front loading” supplies ahead of a week-long national holiday in early October, analysts said.

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com

Indian Garlic Shipments Zooms Thanks To Output Shrinkage In China

KOCHI: Indian shipments of garlic have zoomed thanks to output shrinkage in China, the world’s largest producer, making it the hottest commodity in India’s spice export basket.

 

In the first quarter of the year India exported 18,000 tonnes valued at Rs 123.84 crore, a staggering increase of 169% in quantity and 107% in value, the highest growth among the spices exported from India including the usual top performing ones like chilli, cumin and spice oleoresins.

 

The rising export trend in garlic from India started last year. The year 2016-17 saw garlic export value shoot up 92% to a record Rs 307.11 crore from a year before. The quantity at 32,200 tonnes showed a 39% rise.

 

Till 2015-16, Indian garlic export stood below Rs 100 crore.

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com

Maersk Line Pioneers First Store Door Reefer Import Of Confectionery Into Rudrapur, Uttarakhand

MUMBAI: Maersk Line, the global containerized division of the Maersk Group enables the first store door reefer import of confectionery for Perfetti Van Melle (India) Pvt Ltd into Rudrapur, Uttarakhand. The consignment of confectionery (gums) which left Leixoes, Portugal on the 17th of July reached Rudrapur in Uttarakhand on the 8th of September.

 

At present, reefer importers are currently importing to port and then trucking the cargo to their warehouses. This involves multiple vendor co-ordinations which affect their overall increased cost of logistics. Added to this are shortages of trucks during peak seasons which impact their production cycle.

 

Through Maersk Line’s pioneering offering, these challenges will be a thing of the past. The transportation time between the point of origin and the port reduce considerably, facilitating a one-stop solution closer to the place of origin of cargo.

 

Mr. Steve Felder, MD – Maersk Line (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives), said, “Our constant efforts to provide a single-window simplified supply chain platform have enabled us to successfully carry out the First ever Store door of reefer import. We are committed to providing unmatched customer-centric services. This does synergize well with our belief of enabling the India growth story by providing customers with a definitive, cost-effective and viable logistical solution,” said a Maersk Line release.

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com

Textile Exporters Facing Difficult Times Leading To Constrained Growth: Icra

Indian textile exporters are facing difficult times since the past few months which have led to constrained growth as well as pressures on profitability, according to ICRABSE -0.78 %.

 

In a report released on Wednesday, ICRA said that exporters have been facing subdued demand trends in the key importing countries as well as intense competitive pressures from nations such as Bangladesh and Vietnam over the past few years.

 

In addition, unfavourable currency movements and high raw material prices in the past six to nine months as well as recent revision in duty drawback rates have only added to their woes. With exports accounting for more than one-third of the Indian textile market, this is a matter of concern, notwithstanding a large domestic market.

 

The slowdown in apparels segment has mainly been on account of subdued demand conditions in key textile-consuming regions of United States of America (US) and European Union (EU) which account for a majority of exports from India. This apart, cotton-yarn exports have been under pressure on account of a decline in demand from China, which used to account for more than 40% of total cotton yarn exports from India till last year and accounted for only ~17% of India’s cotton yarn exports in the first four months of FY2018. India appears to be the worst-affected nation amongst cotton-yarn suppliers to China, as is evident in a decline in India’s share in China’s cotton yarn imports to 8% in Q1 FY2018 vis-à-vis 20% and 25% in Q1 FY2017 and Q1 FY2016 respectively.

 

The pressures on textile exporters have become more severe with strengthening of Indian rupee against currencies of key competing nations during the current calendar year, which reduced competitiveness of Indian exporters vis-à-vis their counterparts.

 

Throwing more light on this aspect, Jayanta Roy, senior vice-president and group head, corporate sector ratings, ICRA says, “Notwithstanding the 2% depreciation in the Indian rupee vis-à-vis USD in the month of September 2017, the Indian rupee sustained its strong performance against currencies of most of the countries competing in the global textile space during much of the current calendar year.”

 

While the Indian currency has strengthened by ~5% against USD in 8M CY2017, currencies of other key nations competing in the textile space such as Vietnamese Dong, Bangladeshi Taka as well as Pakistani Rupee depreciated by 0.5-2% against USD during the same period.

 

Further, higher input prices (primarily cotton) this year vis-a-vis last year added to profitability pressures for exporters during H1 FY2018, given the cotton-dominance of textile exports from India. While cotton prices have corrected to an extent from mid-September 2017 onwards which is expected to provide respite during H2 FY2018, recent revision in duty drawback rates is likely to exert some pressure on margins. The Government of India has recently notified revised duty drawback rates under the GST regime which are applicable to exporters with effect from October 2017 onwards. There is a downward revision in duty drawback rates for most product categories in the textile sector under the GST regime, when compared with duty drawback rates for exporters claiming Cenvat under the earlier tax regime.

 

“Considering that GST rates for most product categories in textiles are in line with effective tax rates under the earlier tax regime and the extent of benefit from improved input credit chain post GST implementation remains to be seen. The overall impact of GST and the revised duty drawback rates on the sector is uncertain at present.” adds Roy.

 

Notwithstanding the pressures being witnessed on profitability, debt levels across the sector are expected to decline with the industry focusing on sweating the existing assets and thereby undertaking limited debt-funded capacity additions. Further, with cotton prices easing out from mid-September 2017 onwards, profitability pressures are likely to subside from Q3 FY2018 onwards. As a result, ICRA expects the financial and credit risk profiles of most textile exporters to remain stable.

 

 

 

Soures : economictimes.indiatimes.com

'Mission 2020' To Boost Cashew Export : Cashew Export Promotion Council

PANAJI: Following a suggestion from Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI) is preparing a strategic business plan ‘Mission 2020’ aimed at boosting the cashew industry and exports of cashew kernels in particular. Mr. Prabhu made the suggestion at the venue of Kaju India 2017, the global cashew meet organised by the CEPCI in Goa from September 17 to 19.

 

CEPCI Chairman P. Sundran said that the suggestion for Mission 2020 from the Minister was one of the major achievements of the meet.

 

He said the Minister said that the Government would consider withdrawing the 5% duty on raw cashew imported outside the Advanced Authorisation Scheme. The CEPCI members brought to the attention of the Minister the threat posed by the Indian cashew sector from kernel import from Vietnam. The Minister said the Government would consider the suggestion to hike the import duty on kernels to 70%.

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com

Pharma Exports Declined By 4% In First Five Of Current Fiscal

HYDERABAD: Pharma exports from India registered a negative growth of 4 per cent during the first five months of the current fiscal owing to increased regulatory issues coupled with pricing pressure in global markets, a Pharmexcil official said.

 

According to Udaya Bhaskar, the Director General of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), a Ministry of Commerce and Industry body, the pharma exports to other countries witnessed a decline of

 

7.9 per cent during the April-July period while recovered to 4 per cent in August leaving the over all groPharma Export, Pharmaceuticals, wth at minus four per cent till August this year.

 

"Till July, pharma exports registered minus 7.9 per cent growth. Subsequently it recovered in August and stood at minus four per cent. There was four per cent growth in August. Pricing pressure is one of the factors (for decline in exports). To some extent import alerts (by US FDA on Indian plants), regulatory issues and currency fluctuation, are some of the factors contributed to downward growth," Udaya Bhaskar told.

 

He, however, hoped that the overall exports will recover and come into positive zone for the full year as exports are expected to take an uptick from September.

 

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com

Oilmeals Export Revives With Rise Of 85% In April-September 2017

NEW DELHI: The export during September 2017 is reported at 115,083 tonnes compared to 109,309 tonnes in September 2016 i.e. up by 5%, as per data provided by The Solvent Extractors' Association of India. The overall export of oilmeals during April - September 2017 provisionally reported at 1,101,689 tonnes compared to 594,529 tonnes during the same period of last year i.e. up by 85%.

 

In last Six months, the export of oilmeals improved compared to the previous year, thanks to good monsoon, better oilseeds production and price parity. It may be also be noted that India faced drought years during 2014-15 and 2015-16, which lead to lower production of oilseeds which affected export of oilmeals to the lowest level, however with good monsoon last year, export has revived to some extent.

 

 

 

Soures : Dailyshippingtimes.com