Government gives nod to export extra 5 lakh tone sugar

As I have published previously, after the review of Director General of Foreign Trade The Union government has decided to permit export of an extra five lakh tonnes (lt) of sugar under the open general licence (OGL).

Approved by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, the move is a shot in the arm for the domestic industry as it will be able to take advantage of rising global prices.

Taking $ 725 or Rs 32,575 as the price of a tonne, free-on-board, the effective realisation for exports from Maharashtra, after taking away Rs 2,000 towards freight and handling expenses at Jawaharlal Nehru Port or Mumbai Port, would work out to Rs 30,575, which is more than the prevailing ex-factory price of Rs 25,000 a tonne on domestic sales in Maharashtra or Rs 27,000 in Uttar Pradesh.

Of the five lakh tonnes quota permitted earlier, the Directorate of Sugar has already allocated 4.26 lt to individual factories and issued release orders for 4.21 lt, in addition to the 51,500 tonnes allotted to neighbouring countries.

Engineering goods exports jump to 119% in May

According to data released by the Engineering Export Promotion Council, engineering goods exports stood at $ 3.6 billion in May last fiscal.

Propelled mainly by increase in demand from traditional markets like the US and Europe, engineering goods exports posted a robust growth of 119.4 per cent to $ 7.9 billion in May, year-on-year.

Government to initiate action against ‘erring’ cotton exporters

The Commerce Ministry norms specify that cotton exporters who fail to transport the quantity allocated to them within the stipulated period, will be debarred from future allocations.

The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has made it clear that it will initiate penal action against defaulting exporters.

It may be recalled that the government had to put a ceiling on exports through a quota in the wake of shortages.

While initially the quota allocation was 55 lakh bales (170 kg each), it was later augmented to 65 lakh bales. For the current season ending September, the government has given the nod for export of additional 10 lakh bales.

The DGFT mentions that "(exporter) shall be liable to pay a penalty of not less than Rs 10,000 and not more than five times the value of the goods or services or technology in respect of which any contravention is made or attempted to be made, whichever is more."

Food EGoM to make Decision on Export of sugar today

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on food is meeting on Thursday (June 23) to decide on allowing more exports of sugar.

The meeting has reportedly been called at the behest of Mr Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister, who wants the government to permit exports of an additional one million tonnes of the commodity. Sugar mills too have sought permission to export more of the sweetener as production is expected to rise in the next season from October.

The country's sugar production is estimated at 24.2 million tonnes in the 2010-11 season, compared to 18.8 million tonnes in the previous season. In 2011-12, it is estimated to be 26-26.5 million tonnes.

India is the second-largest producer and the biggest consumer of sugar in the world.

Oil meal exports jumps 84 % due to record output

Due to record output of oilseeds in the 2010-11 crop year, oilmeal exports shot up by 84 per cent to 3.2 lakh tonnes in May 2011, compared to 1.73 lakh tonnes in the same month of last year.

In a statement, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEAI) said that exports of oilmeal more than doubled to 8.21 lakh tonnes in the first two months of the current fiscal, compared to 3.77 lakh tonnes in the year-ago
period.

During April-May 2011, oilmeal imports by Japan from India climbed more than 300 per cent to 2.05 lakh tonnes from 48,887 tonnes in the year-ago period. Besides, Vietnam imported 1.10 lakh tonnes during the period under consideration against 41,853 tonnes in the same period of the previous year.

SEAI data indicates that oilmeal exports have climbed for seven months in a row in the current oil year (November 2010-October 2011).

Besides, exports have nearly doubled to 40.04 lakh tonnes in the current oil year till May, compared to 20.58 lakh tonnes in the same period of the previous year.

The Association attributes the continuous rise in exports to the sharp increase in oilseed output to 30.25 million tonnes in 2010-11, compared to 24.88 million tonnes in the previous year (2009-10).

The increased availability of oilseeds has led to higher crushing and output of oil and meals for domestic consumption and exports.