The proposed national multi-state cooperative export society, to be established under the Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002, will have a paid-up capital of Rs 2,000 crore, a top official at the Union Ministry of Cooperation said Thursday.

 

The official said the proposed export cooperative will have five promoters — Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the Amul brand’s promoter; National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED); National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC); Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO); and Krishak Bharati Co-operative Limited (KRIBHCO). Initially, these five promoters will invest Rs 100 crore each, the official said.

 

This will be the largest of the three proposed national cooperative societies to be established under the MSCS Act. The Union cabinet Wednesday gave its nod to establish the three three national-level multi-state cooperatives under the Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act 2002. These are national multi-state cooperative export society; national multi-state cooperative organic society; and national level multi-state seed cooperative.

 

The proposed national multi-state seed cooperative will have an authorised share capital of Rs 500 crore. However, it will be established with an initial paid-up share capital of Rs 250 crore. It will have five promoters. These include three national cooperatives —IFFCO, KRIBHCO and NAFED — and two statutory bodies — National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the NCDC.

 

The proposed national-level cooperative society for organic products will have an authorised share capital of Rs 500 crore, an official said. Five cooperative bodies — GCMMF; NAFED; and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF); NDDB; and NCDC — have come forward to take the initiative of the ministry to set up an organic cooperative society. The society will have an authorised share capital of Rs 500 crore. It will have an initial paid-up share capital of Rs 100 crore.

The government will take a decision next month on increasing the sugar export quota from current 60 lakh tonnes after assessing the domestic production and internal demand, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said on Thursday. The food ministry has allowed 60 lakh tonnes of sugar exports for the current 2022-23 marketing year (October-September). India exported around 110 lakh tonnes of sugar -- an all-time high -- in the previous year.

 

In the current marketing year so far, the mills have dispatched 30 lakh tonnes of sugar for exports and out of that 18 lakh tonnes have already been shipped. The food ministry said the entire 60 lakh tonnes will get exported by May.

 

Asked about increasing the exports quota, Chopra told reporters: 'We are open to revisiting the export quota. Depending on the domestic production and internal requirement, we will take a fresh call in the next month or so.'

 

The secretary said that there are divergent views on production estimates among different sugar associations for the current 2022-23 marketing year and a clear picture would emerge by the end of this month or early next month.

 

Subodh Singh, Additional Secretary in the food department, said: 'We will have a meeting with cane commissioners of all the sugar-producing states next month. We will reassess production estimates and then we will decide how much sugar can be reasonably exported.'

 

He said the production would not be lower than 340-345 lakh tonnes. 'So we will have the potential of some additional quantity of exports,' Singh said.

 

Earlier this week, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said that sugar mills have entered into contracts to export 55 lakh tonnes of sweetener so far in the current marketing year ending September.

 

Sugar production till January 15, 2023, in the current marketing year is 156.8 lakh tonnes as against 150.8 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year.

 

India's soymeal exports could more than double in the 2022/23 marketing year, as drought in top exporter Argentina lifted global prices, prompting buyers to turn to the south Asian country with cheaper rates, four industry officials told Reuters.

 

The revival in the exports of the animal feed has boosted soybean crushing in India and the availability of soyoil, which could reduce imports of soyoil and palm oil by the world's biggest buyer in coming months.

 

Oil mills have contracted to export around 160,000 tonnes of soymeal for January shipments and another 100,000 tonnes for February shipments, mostly to Asian countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Japan and Nepal, the officials said.

 

'Exports demand for Indian soymeal has been improving since it is cheaper than supplies from Argentina,' Hemant Bansal, vice president, oilseed crushing and refining at Patanjali Foods Ltd told Reuters. 'Asian buyers are saving on freight as well due to the proximity.'

 

Bansal estimated India's soymeal exports in the current marketing year could rise to 1.5-2 million tonnes, from 644,000 tonnes a year ago.

 

Soymeal prices rose in the world market as Argentina's soybean production was forecast to fall to 41 million tonnes in 2022/23 due to drought, from 48 million tonnes previously estimated.

 

India's soymeal exports in the first three months of the 2022/23 marketing year, which started on Oct. 1, jumped 223% to 325,409 tonnes, according to trade body the Solvent Extractors' Association of India.

 

Soybean crush margins have improved due to recovery in soymeal exports, but the correction in soyoil prices in the past few days is threatening to wipe out the margins, said Manoj Agrawal, an exporter.

 

Soyoil and palm oil imports were seen declining in the coming months with improvement in local supplies, a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trade house said.

 

Edible oil availability has improved because of higher imports in the December quarter and as soyoil supplies are rising from domestic soybean crushing, he added.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is likely to start open market sale of wheat this month to curb abnormally high prices of the cereal.

 

'The FCI will likely undertake open market sale of 2-3 million tonnes (MT) of wheat to bulk buyers such as flour millers by the end of January,' said a senior official, who did not wish to be identified.

 

Wheat prices in the Delhi market touched a record Rs 3,070 per quintal this week, said traders.

 

Till last year, the Centre used to sell excess wheat held by government agencies in the open market through tendering. It used to maintain continuous availability of the wheat in the market and also regulate prices during the lean season.

 

This year, however, the government’s wheat procurement fell to 18.79 million tonnes in the 2022-23 marketing year from 43.44 million tonnes due to a fall in domestic output and aggressive purchase by private parties. After having initially encouraged exports at the beginning of the 2022-23 wheat season, India had to ban the outbound shipments as a severe heat wave reduced the country’s production.

 

After clubbing the free ration scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana with the National Food Security Act, it will be left with wheat which can be allocated for the open market sale scheme.

 

The current stock of wheat with the FCI stands at 17.170 MT, down from 33.012 MT a year ago.

 

In the current season, area under wheat has increased to 33.7 million hectares from 33.2 million hectares last year, as per the data released by the agriculture ministry last week.

 

Wheat is a key rabi or winter crop and is mostly grown in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

 

This year, farmers have used new seeds – such as such as DBW 187, DBW 303, DBW 222, DBW 327 and DBW 332 – which have better tolerance to heat and are high yielding.

 

The FSSAI has decided to allow instant modification in food licences for non-high risk standardised products and the provision will be available only to the existing licensed manufacturers through FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System).

 

According to the FSSAI, generally the modifications in a licence are related to changes in company details such as address, name, communication details, product details, addition of new products in the licence and so on and usually the manufacturers wish to add only standardised products (non-high risk) in the already existing licence.

 

An official with the FSSAI stated that the matter was examined by the food authority during its 40th meeting and for ease of doing business and streamlining the process of modification of licences, it decided to allow ‘Instant Modification’ of licence in case of modification applications for the addition of any of the standardised food products under the Vegetable Oil and Processing Units Kind of Business (KoB) and General Manufacturing KoB except the High-Risk Food Categories numbers 01, 08, 09, 13 and 99.

 

Further, the modification fee shall be Rs 1,000 (plus any differential fee due to change in fee slab within the same category of licence).

 

At present, all the modification applications have to be scrutinised by the concerned Licensing Authority/Designated Officer for issuance of the modified licence in a similar manner, as that of new licence applications with similar processing time as defined Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses Regulations while the FBOs required to ensure that the Registering or Licensing Authority always has up-to-date information on their food business establishments and shall inform the relevant Authority of any modifications or additions or changes in product category, layout, expansion closure, or any other material information based on which the licence was granted and such information shall be conveyed before the changes occur.

 

Millet Magic Foundation and World Trade Center Bhubaneswar organized a curtain raiser for the Advanced Agriculture Conclave 2023 scheduled to be organized on February 2 at Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar.

 

The curtain raiser witnessed launch of ''MILLET-ARY' a platform for welcoming International Year of Millet.

 

'MILLET-ARY' will be a common platform for all the stake holders to connect for the said purpose of promoting millets. The fleet intends to work yearlong to create a complete value chain for 100 FPO and stakeholders of Millet and provide them with whatever help needed.

 

'MILLET-ARY' will have advisors – Government bodies, Scientists, Financial experts, Agriculturists, Marketers, Logistic solution providers, Compliance experts etc. from stakeholders such as APEDA, OUAT, Odisha Millet Mission, Micro Finance bodies, Department of Agriculture Government of Odisha

 

'MILLET-ARY' will be a solution to every requirement for creation of value chain for millet. It will be like Yellow Pages, you raise a query and 'MILLET-ARY' provides a solution by linking to the right platform.

This will be a year for the Indian economy to strengthen its position on the global stage while the rest of the world grapples with an impending recession, war and inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its report on the state of the economy.

 

The distinction of being the most populated country with a sixth of the world's working population could only lift the prospects for the economy to surpass Germany and Japan by 2027, the central bank said, citing a forecast by the International Monetary Fund.

 

'In closing, 2023 may well be the opening ajar of a window in which India’s time on the world stage is arriving,' the RBI said in its commentary, which is a part of the bank's monthly bulletin.

 

In April 2023, India’s population will be the largest in the world, projected at 1.4 billion. 'With a median age of 28, this is India’s chance to seize the demographic dividend and herald its emergence as an economic powerhouse of the future,' the RBI said.

 

India will be a $3.7 trillion economy in 2023, maintaining its lead over the UK as the fifth largest economy of the world.

 

'Even diehard disparagers acknowledge that ‘India has a compelling story – a vibrant IT-services industry, a burgeoning domestic tech economy, an increasingly attractive location for global manufacturers, and strong economic growth’,' said the report, prepared by the central bank’s economic research department.

 

The RBI, however, said that the views expressed in the report are of its authors and not of the bank.

 

India’s macroeconomic stability is getting stronger with inflation, measured by the consumer price index, remaining below the 6% upper tolerance band for the last two months. Lead indicators also suggest that the current account deficit is on course to narrow through the rest of the 2023.

 

India is also striving to build a global manufacturing hub and become a preferred habitat for companies to shift their production bases.

 

'Amid the ongoing megatrends, India would have a significant advantage owing to strong domestic demand, digitalisation, largest talent pool globally, financial inclusion, global competitiveness and sustainability transition,' EY, one of the leading professional services organisations, had said earlier this week.

 

The RBI report said that the objective during 2023 would be to tether inflation and fiscal consolidation at both central and sub-national levels.

The United Arab Emirates is in early discussions with India to trade non-oil commodities in Indian rupees, Emirati Minister for Foreign Trade Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi said on Thursday. The UAE signed a wide-ranging free trade agreement last year with India, which, along with China, is among the biggest trade partners for Gulf Arab oil and gas producers, most of whose currencies are pegged to the US dollar.

 

Al Zeyoudi, asked by Reuters whether trade in rupees with India was on the table, replied 'yes, we are in discussion with the Indians'. The talks are related to non-oil commodities, he added. 'They are in the early stages,' he said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

 

The UAE's trade deal with India aims to increase bilateral non-oil trade to $100 billion in the next five years.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, along with PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PHDCCI) in association with National Centre for Cold Chain Development (NCCD) as a knowledge partner, organised a one-day exhibition and conference as 'India Cold Chain Conclave' in New Delhi today. The conference was organised with the objective to bring together all the stakeholders on one common platform where they can contribute thoughts and ideas for the growth of industry in a sustainable manner and to explore ways of reducing post-harvest losses with relevant technologies. An exhibition was also organised concurrently to demonstrate Innovations and Excellence in Cold Chain Sector by industry leaders.

 

The Conclave and exhibition was inaugurated by Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. He said that Ministry of Agriculture recognizes the importance of the cold chain industry in ensuring food safety, reducing food waste and increasing the shelf life of perishable products and ministry has set up an extensive outlay of policies and programmes to give strength to this sector. Technological innovation is crucial for the growth and development of the Indian Cold Chain industry. With the advent of advanced refrigeration and cooling systems, the industry is now able to store and transport goods at much lower temperatures, which helps to extend the shelf life of perishable products. This has led to an increase in the export of perishable goods from India, as the products can now reach international markets in better condition.

 

During the Conclave, approval of the product specific horticulture clusters in various parts of the country under the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme of MoA&FW was accorded.  On this occasion, Shri Ahuja handed over the letter of acceptance to the five Cluster Development Agencies and Implementing Agencies for respective Clusters viz. Apple in Shopian (J&K), Banana in Ananthapur (Andhra Pradesh), Grape in Nasik (Maharashtra), Mango in Mahbubnagar (Telangana) and Turmeric in West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya), out of 12 selected clusters for pilot phase. The respective Implementing Agencies include FIL Industries Pvt. Ltd., Desai Agrifoods Pvt.Ltd., Sahayadri Farms Post-Harvest Care Limited, Prasad Seeds Pvt. Ltd. and Meghalaya Basin Management Agency through their Cluster Development Agencies namely JK HPMC, Andhra Pradesh Horticulture Development Agency, Maharashtra State Horticulture and Medicinal Board, Telangana State Horticulture Development Corporation Limited and Meghalaya State Agricultural Marketing Board.  It was also announced that the applications for 7 other pilot clusters namely Mango for Kutch and Lucknow, Pomegranate for Solapur & Chitradurga, Banana for Theni, Apple for Kinnaur and Pineapple for Sepahijala are under process.

 

Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi, Additional Secretary (DA&FW) said that the Indian Cold Chain industry is expected to experience significant growth in the coming years. The increasing demand for perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables, and meat products, as well as the rise in e-commerce and online grocery sales, are driving this growth. As the demand for these goods continues to grow in India, the government recognizes the need to support the development of the cold chain industry in order to ensure food security and public health.

 

Shri Priya Ranjan, Joint Secretary (Horticulture) said that the Agriculture Ministry, under the dynamic leadership of Agriculture Minister, is working fast in understanding the new needs which are emerging on the cold chain front and we are progressing ahead with various programmes initiated to bring new developments in the cold chain sector.

 

During technical sessions, various issues relating to Logistics and cluster development to unlock Cold chain development prospects, Cold chain energy efficiency, Refrigeration technology and Importance of Internet of Things in Cold-chain etc were deliberated in detail by the delegates with the objectives to bring improvement of the development of cold-chain industry in sustainable manner.

 

The event was attended by other senior officers from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, APEDA, Bureau of Energy Efficiency etc. The conclave was also attended by over 250 participants/delegates belonging to Various Government Departments, Corporates, Technology Providers, Traders, Exporters, Researchers and other stakeholders from various parts of the country.

A group of importers in Thailand has issued an international tender to purchase up to 135,000 tonnes of animal feed wheat, European traders said on Wednesday.

 

The deadline for submission of price offers in the tender is also Wednesday, Jan 18.

 

One consignment of about 75,000 tonnes is sought for shipment between Feb. 15 and March 15, while another 60,000 tonne-consignment is sought for shipment between July 1 and July 31.

 

The wheat can be sourced from country worldwide, except Pakistan, Ukraine and Russia.

 

In the last reported purchase by Thailand on Jan. 4, an importer group bought about 75,000 tonnes of feed wheat expected to have been sourced from optional origins.