India's exports to Iran up 17 per cent in April-June 2012:

India's exports to sanction-hit Iran grew by 7 per cent year-on-year to $705.8 million during the April-June period of the current fiscal year, Assocham today said.

The country's exports to Iran during April-June 2011 stood at $605.3 million.

"The exports to Iraq, another hot spot in the Middle-East, saw a big jump, bucking the overall trend of decline in Indian exports," it said. India's exports to Iran comprise agri items like basmati rice, tea, sugar and soyabean.

The chamber also said that India has reduced its oil imports from Iran due to the US pressure. Iran is India's second largest oil supplier after Saudi Arabia.

India's overall imports from the key Middle East country declined by about 25 per cent to $2.71 billion during the first quarter of this fiscal year from $3.6 billion in the same period last year.

"The crude oil import was the largest item of imports from Iran. As the country faced the US pressure and the payment system for Iranian crude was disturbed, India's imports from that country had to drop sharply," Assocham said.

The country's overall imports in the first half of the current fiscal year were down by 3.6 per cent to $234.8 billion.

It said that India has exported several food items like wheat to Iran which has been hit hard by the sanctions from UN, the US and Europe against its disputed nuclear programme.

Further, the chamber said that India's exports to Iraq jumped to $334.5 million during the April-June quarter from $132.8 million in the same period of 2011-12.

"Although the situation in Iraq is not similar to Iran", India's imports from Iraq also declined by 16.6 per cent to $4.6 billion during the period from $5.5 billion in April-June 2011, it added.
Among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) countries, the share of Indonesia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in India's imports increased significantly.

In contrast, the share of Iran in India's total imports declined to 2.4 per cent during April-June 2012 from 3 per cent in the same period previous year. Similarly, the share of Iraq in the country's total imports declined to 4 per cent from 4.5 per cent in Q1 of 2011-12.

"Irrespective of the pressure from the west, India needs to pursue its economic ties with Iran and other important countries in the Middle-East," Assocham president Rajkumar N Dhoot said in a statement.

"We will continue to build bridges between the businesses of the countries," Mr Dhoot said.

Source:-profit.ndtv.com 

Grapes' export, groundnuts' shipping will now require Apeda's registration

The government has tightened the export norms for grapes and groundnuts wherein the export of grapes to the European Union (EU) and shipping of groundnuts to world markets will now require registration from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), as per the information revealed by the Commerce Ministry. 

However, export of groundnuts and its products to Russia will not require such registration. 

“Export of groundnuts and its products to all countries except Russia would require registration from Apeda along with controlled aflatoxin level certificate by the recognised laboratories,” as per the notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). 

So far, compulsory registration of contracts with Apeda, along with controlled aflatoxin level certificate, was required only for exports to EU. 

As per the notification, the export of groundnuts and its products to Russia would continue to be on the basis of pre-shipment certificate by notified laboratories. 

Besides, DGFT said, “Export of grapes to EU would require registration from Apeda.” 

The European authorities have rejected several consignments of grapes due to the presence of a chemical residue. Chloromacvat chemical is used as preservative to keep the fruit fresh. 

The major exporters of grapes are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Grapes are harvested during February-April.

Source: India mart news.

Exports to US, Europe, China eligible to fetch govt incentives

From 1st Jan 2013, exports to conventional markets such as US and Europe will be eligible to fetch government incentives.

Concerned over the shrinkage of Indian exports during the first eight months of the current fiscal, the government has notified a scheme whereby an exporter is entitled to get an incentive even if exports are meant for US, Europe or China, three key destinations of Indian exports.

Earlier, incentives were meant for exports to new markets like Central Asia and Latin America.

Under this performance-oriented scheme titled Incremental Exports Incentivisation Scheme, exporters will get duty credit scrip at 2% on incremental growth of exports to be achieved during January-March quarter of 2012-13 over the same period last fiscal.

But exporters will be eligible only if they export more in value terms during the current financial year in comparison to that of the last fiscal.

While talking to ET, Director General of Foreign Trade Dr Anup K Pujari said the scheme should drive the exporters to work hard and achieve more.

"We want exporters to work harder during this quarter and show results. The scheme will cover exports to USA, Europe and Asian countries. But exports to Singapore, UAE and Hong Kong will not be eligible as those are mere trans-shipment hubs," Pujari said.

He further added that this scheme would be over and above other existing schemes. "We want to reward the performing exporters rather than distributing sops among all," he added.

The scheme, however, will not include exports from SEZs, service exports, and exports of select goods like diamond, gold, silver, platinum, cereals, milk, sugar etc.

The total Indian exports between April and October in 2012-13 was $169 billion, down 6% over the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Source: The Economic Times

India Develops New Pusa Basmati Rice Variety

Indian scientists have developed a new basmati (fragrant) rice variety in the Pusa line that has yields of around 6.5 tons per hectare, up about 44% from 4.5 tons per hectare yield of the popular Pusa 1121 variety.

The new variety, Pusa Basmati 1509, developed by scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), will be the second basmati rice variety introduced since the release of Pusa 1121. According to scientists, the new variety takes just 120 days to mature; compared to Pusa 1121’s 145 days, requires less water and has better cooking quality than Pusa 1121, claim scientists. Importantly, unlike Pusa 1121, Pusa 1509 does not shatter due to delay in harvesting.

The field trials of Pusa Basmati 1509 were carried out in October this year and the commercial cultivation is expected to commence in the next Kharif season (July to October), according to IARI.

The Pusa 1121 basmati rice variety was released for commercial cultivation by Indian scientists in 2003. Pusa 1121 is known for its extraordinary length of up to 9.5 mm and unique fragrance, and has since become hugely popular both among farmers and exporters. Today, the Pusa 1121 accounts for almost 60% of around 2.6 million hectares of total acreage under basmati rice cultivation in India, and about 70% of around 3.2 million tons of basmati rice exports.

Source: http://oryza.com