China alloy steel imports under lens

New Delhi, Sept. 25: India has started anti-dumping investigations into alloy steel from China.

Commerce ministry officials said six Indian companies had approached the directorate general of anti-dumping and allied duties, for a probe and the imposition of an anti-dumping duty on alloy steel bars and rods, used in sectors such as machinery, automobiles and construction.

The government anti-dumping body has said it has "sufficient evidence" of China dumping steel products.

"The authority, hereby, initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry," the directorate said in a notification. It will look at whether dumping is taking place, its effects and recommend a penal duty.The domestic steel industry has been hit by low demand and dumping by foreign players.

While private steel companies are struggling, with some of them figuring on the RBI list of top defaulters, the financial performance of state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd has also suffered.

India has been trying to create a duty wall to protect its steel mills from dumping by China and other East Asian and East European countries who have resorted to undercutting as steel demand has dried up in the world.

The government has tried helping distressed steel firms by raising the import duty and slapping additional safeguard duties. However, the fact remains that bad loans in steel sector account for as much as Rs 3 lakh crore. In terms of loans owed to banks, the iron and steel industry saw the highest slippage at 7.8 percent followed by textiles at 6.4 percent.

However, all this has resulted in India getting involved in trade spats with East Asian giants over import levies and restrictions. Japan has threatened to take India to the WTO over restrictions that nearly halved its steel exports to this country over the past year.

India had earlier extended safeguard duties of 20 percent on a range of products for two years to protect domestic units reeling under cheap imports from China, Japan and Korea, besides imposing minimum import prices.

Sri Lanka Increases Tea Imports From India

Sri Lanka increased the import of tea from India for blending, statistics showed
Notwithstanding the loss of exports on account of the prolonged closure of the Darjeeling tea estates, India’s tea exports have increased 4.6% by volume in the first seven months of 2017.
Interestingly, two countries where Indian teas made major inroads were China and Sri Lanka — among India’s top rivals in the global tea arena. Exports increased 150% to the island nation and by 71% to China according to Tea Board statistics. “We hope to maintain the trend,” S. Soundararajan, secretary at the Board told The Hindu.
Total exports stood at 121.1 million kg in January-July 2017, against 115.8 million kg a year earlier. India exported 227 million kg last year.
The more than 90-day closure of the Darjeeling tea industry by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which is demanding a separate state, has harmed the interests of the premium and speciality teas but has not hampered India’s overall tea exports, either by volume or by value.Darjeeling produces about 8 million kg annually, of which about 6 million kg is exported. Production between January and June, in the 87 tea estates in Darjeeling halved from 4.1 million kg a year earlier to 2.1 million kg. No export figures are available, but exporters are facing order cancellations, enquiries revealed.
Three countries have played a prominent role in the current year’s export scenario — China, Sri Lanka and Egypt. An erstwhile green-tea consumer and producer, China has, of late, taken to black tea production, of which there is increased demand from the youth segment. Sri Lanka has increased imports of Indian tea for blending, it was learnt.
Egypt, a traditional market for Indian teas has almost doubled its imports in the period. India has also seen a rise in exports to Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Taken with Russia, the CIS region is India’s single-largest block for tea exports.
The Tea Board has facilitated several international expositions and delegations this year. While there was a delegation to Moscow this month, there were two delegations to the U.S. and to Chile in June.

Tea Imports From India

India working to cut imports of active pharmaceutical ingredients

Hyderabad: With an aim to reduce dependence on import, Pharmexcil, the pharma export promoting body set up under the Ministry of Commerce, is working with Indian laboratories that have the capability to produce the active pharmaceutical ingredients that are being imported.

Speaking to reporters after its annual general meeting, Pharmexcil director general Ravi Uday Bhaskar and Chairman Madan Mohan Reddy said imports of APIs could be around $3.4 billion and if the key starting materials (KSMs) are also included, the import value could be about $4-5 billion.

“We are working to cut down the imports. This will cut the dependence on other nations as well as save the foreign exchange,” said Bhaskar.

For this purpose, it is selecting about 100 molecules to encourage local production. It is working with institutions like the IICT and others that have the technical capabilities to make such molecules. These will be commercialized and given to the industry. “We have identified certain molecules and the laboratories that can make them. Depending on the complexities, we expect the results in six to 18 months for some molecules, he said.

To encourage local development, drugs that will be made with import substitute molecules will not be under the Drug Price Control Order for five years. Pharmexcil will seek Government’s support in creating entry barriers for these molecules to ensure that domestic molecules are preferred to imported ones, the director general said.

“We need to create a level playing field for the local manufacturers. We need to design appropriate financial packages for this to be successful. All these have to be taken up in a cluster approach, “ the official said.

While imports are meeting the current requirement, the present effort to increase the domestic production is a step to ensure business continuity in case the supply from some countries is stopped or becomes uncertain due to various reasons, Bhaskar said.

“India was a net importer of APIs earlier. It took four decades or more to reach the current stage mainly on its strong chemistry skills. About 90 percent of the research is by the academia. India should now focus on innovation as well,” said Pharmexcil vice-chairman Dinesh Dua.

Steel exports rise 36 pc, consumption up 4.6 pc in Aug

Country's steel consumption in August rose by 4.6 percent to 7.416 million tonnes (mt) over the corresponding month last year and exports in the last month grew by 36 percent, a steel ministry's report said on Thursday.

"Overall consumption at 7.416 mt in August 2017 was up by 7.4 percent in July 2017 and was up by 4.6 percent over August 2016," said the report of the ministry's Joint Plant Committee (JPC).

According to it, India's consumption of total finished steel saw a growth of 4.4 percent in the April-August period of the current fiscal to 35.329 mt over the same period last year, under the influence of rising production.

Exports of total finished steel increased by 57.1 percent to 3.73 mt in the April-August period over the same period last year and overall exports at 0.923 mt in August were up 20 percent over the previous month but grew by 36 percent over the year-ago month.

However, import of total finished steel at 3.458 mt in the first five months of the current fiscal grew by 15.9 percent over same period last year.
"Overall imports in August 2017 at 0.955 mt was up by 20 percent over July 2017 and was up by 62 percent over August 2016," the report said.

India was a net importer of total finished steel in the last month and maintained its net exporter status in the first five months of the current fiscal.

According to the provisional data released by JPC, production for sale of total finished steel in August was at 8.776 mt, up 2.3 percent over the year-ago month.

"Production for sale of total finished steel at 43.205 mt registered a growth of 5.9 percent during April-August 2017 over same period of last year," the report said.

During April-August, the ISP (Integrated Steel Plant) producers produced 25.23 mt, which was a growth of 12 percent while production for the other producers during the period was up by 0.3 percent.

Steel Exports Imports

Suresh Prabhu says government will promote exports in 'shortest possible time'

NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday said his ministry is looking at certain measures to give a leg up to India’s exports which are facing “challenging times”, partly because of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout.
“We are trying to work out what to be done to promote exports in a shortest possible time which includes issues coming up because of the GST,” Prabhu, who assumed charge as the commerce and industry minister on Monday, told reporters here.
India's export growth slowed to an eight-month low of 3.94% in July, while the trade deficit widened to $11.44 billion on account of high gold imports.
He added that the ministry is working on the support measures which can facilitate the quick increase in exports both in terms of volume and value.
The commerce ministry is expected to announce incentives in the review of the foreign trade policy, which is scheduled to be released next month.
Walls of protectionism
Further, he said these are challenging times as countries are creating more and more walls around them.

“Protectionist ideas are growing. They are stronger over a period time. So we will follow our trade policy in the manner that we will be able to work through these walls,” he said and added that the commerce ministry will have to play the role of economic diplomacy also.

Ukragro consult raises ukraine grain harvest ,exports forecast

KIEV, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Analyst UkrAgro Consult on Tuesday raised Ukraine's 2017/18 grain exports forecast by 3.4 percent to 42.06 million tonnes underpinned by higher-than-expected harvest.
It revised the 2017 grain harvest estimate to 63.2 million tonnes from 61.7 million tonnes a month earlier due to a higher grain yield and larger harvested area, the consultancy said in a statement.
UkrAgroConsult said Ukrainian wheat harvest this year is likely to reach 26 million tonnes compared with 26.1 million tonnes from a year-ago period. A month earlier, the consultancy had expected the wheat harvest to come in at 25 million tonnes.
"The wheat harvest outcomes were also greater than expected by the market. Although wheat plantings were somewhat reduced in favour of oilseeds, a larger area of wheat survived the winter than last year," the consultancy said.
UkrAgroConsult said the 2017 barley crop could total 8.5 million tonnes versus 8 million tonnes expected a month earlier, and compared with 9.45 million tonnes threshed last year.
The Agricultural Ministry said Ukraine could harvest up to 63 million tonnes of grain this year, and had harvested a record 66 million tonnes in 2016. However, analysts saw the output at 64.2 million tonnes.
UkrAgroConsult did not provide forecast for this year's maize crop, which had totalled 28 million tonnes last year.
Weather forecasters last week said hot and dry weather in Ukraine's eastern and southern regions in August may reduce maize harvest by 10-15 percent and could hamper winter grain sowing.
The 2017 maize harvest could decrease to 25.5-26 million tonnes, said Tetyana Adamenko, head of the agriculture department for the state weather centre.
She added weather conditions were unfavourable for winter grain sowing.
Winter wheat accounts for around 95 percent of Ukraine's total wheat area while the share of winter barley reaches around 60 percent.
The ministry said farmers have already started winter grain sowing, seeding the first 12,000 hectares.
This year, farmers plan to sow around 7.2 million hectares of winter grains, including 6.1 million hectares of winter wheat.

Wheat exports imports

Import from India to be cheaper by up to 28%

The prices of all goods imported from India will now fall by zero to 28 percent. This is as per the directive issued by the Office of Consumer Protection under the economic affairs ministry on August 29.

The change comes following the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India. As per the notification, prices of all imported goods will be cheaper in the country provided licensed business entities import directly from GST registered entities in India and not from the open market.
During the recent meeting between the government and the private sectors, the Department of Revenue and Customs said, prices of top ten commodities imported from India will fall by 14 percent on an average. The consumable goods price is expected to drop by about 5 percent. However, the GST will have no impact on the prices of the essential items as it is tax-free.
The Office of Consumer Protection is tasked to ensure that all importers, suppliers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers do not mislead or give false information to consumers regarding prices or method of determining prices.
The defaulters will be made to pay fines equivalent to the value of goods or services and the business license may also be canceled.
Further, consumer protection rules and regulation 2015 strictly prohibits business entities from distorting the information and impairing the consumers to make the informed decision.
The government directed the ministry to ensure that the benefits of fall in the prices of goods are passed on to the consumers.

Auto components industry in India witnesses over 14 percent growth

Exports in 2016-17 were at Rs 73,128 crore as against Rs 70,916 crore in the previous year, up 3.1 per cent. Imports decreased by 0.1 per cent to Rs 90,662 crore last fiscal as against Rs 90,571 in 2015-16
The Indian auto components industry expanded by 14.3 per cent to Rs 2.92 lakh crore last fiscal on the back of robust growth in after market sales.  According to the latest data by Automotive Component Manufacturers  Association of India (ACMA), the after market the segment grew by 25.6 per cent to Rs 56,096 crore last fiscal
from Rs 44,660 crore in the preceding year. Exports in 2016-17 were at Rs 73,128 crore as against Rs 70,916 crore in the previous year, up 3.1 per cent. Imports decreased by 0.1 per cent to Rs 90,662 crore last fiscal as against Rs 90,571 in 2015-16. ACMA President Rattan Kapur said: "Despite the challenges of demonetization and uncertainty in the implementation of GST, vehicle production remained buoyant. In this backdrop, the auto component industry posted an encouraging performance."
He said the after the market segment was "a silver lining" growing 25.6 per cent.On the outlook, Kapur said: "We believe that technological transformation of the automotive industry is imminent, which calls upon the component industry to invest inR&D, create intellectual property, acquire and develop relevant technologies at a much faster pace to remain relevant for future needs."
Expressing similar views, ACMA Director General Vinnie Mehta said that at this juncture the industry is preparing for graduating from BS-IV to BS-IV by 2020. "Leapfrogging a generation of technology in just three years not only calls for sizeable investments for technology acquisition and absorption, but also for skilling of people."
In terms of auto components supply distribution to automobile manufacturers, ACMA said 49 per cent was to passenger vehicles, 22 per cent to two-wheelers, 11 per cent to medium and heavy commercial vehicles, 8 per cent to light commercial vehicles, 6 per cent to tractors, 2 per cent to three-wheelers and another 2 per cent to backhoe loaders

Auto components industry in India