Eyeing the use of eastern Indian ports to export its goods, a delegation from Bangladesh visited the facility in Kolkata to explore new trade opportunities that would reduce cost and time, officials said on Friday.

Despite record production and ample stocks, the Philippines is expected to import a record volume of rice in the 2024-25 marketing year, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture.

Senior officials of India and the 27-nation European Union (EU) are expected to hold the next round of talks for the proposed free trade agreement, which aims at boosting commerce and investments, in September, an official said. Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce Darpan Jain said that the eighth round of talks was concluded on June 28.

India and the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union bloc are working to finalise broad contours and their terms of reference on a proposed free trade agreement, an official said. The five members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

India’s total exports (Merchandise and Services combined) for June 2024* is estimated at USD 65.47 Billion, registering a positive growth of 5.40 percent vis-à-vis June 2023. Total imports (Merchandise and Services combined) for June 2024* is estimated at USD 73.47 Billion, registering a positive growth of 6.29 percent vis-à-vis June 2023.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said the state will export 40 tonnes of mangoes to Japan and Malaysia this year. It is for the first time in the history of 160 years that Lucknow's Dussehri mango is being exported to the USA, he added.