Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has approved the recommendation of the economic ministry to extend up to the end of next year lower tariff rates on rice and other food items to help combat inflation, his office said on Sunday.

 

The modified rates approved in 2021 were due to expire at the end of this year, but an inflation rate running at 14-year highs warranted an extension of the tariff reprieve until Dec. 31, 2023.

 

That means the tariff rate for imported rice will stay at 35%, while the import levies on corn and pork products will remain at 5%-15% and 15%-25% respectively, the press secretary's office said in a statement.

 

The tariff for coal imports, a key fuel in power generation, will remain at zero beyond the end of next year, but will be reviewed regularly.

 

'Through this policy, we shall augment our domestic food supplies, diversify our sources of food staples, and temper inflationary pressures arising from supply constraints and rising international prices of production inputs,' Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in the statement.

 

At 8.0% in November, consumer price inflation is well beyond the Philippine central bank's target range of 2%-4% for this year and the medium term.

 

Soaring inflation has prompted the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to raise interest rates (PHCBIR=ECI) seven times this year and flag more tightening in 2023 to bring inflation back to within its target.

 

'We are determined to steer the Philippine economy to meet the 6.0%-7.0% economic growth target for 2023,' Balisacan said.

The year-on-year sugar production of India till December 15 at 82.1 lakh tonnes is higher by 5.1% over previous year, said industry body Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).

 

The sugar till December 15 in 2022-23 sugar season is 82.1 lakh tonnes, against 77.9 lakh tonnes produced during the corresponding period of previous year, up by 4 lakh tonnes. The sugar production figures are before diversion of sugarcane juice for ethanol production.

 

The state of Maharashtra is leading with production of 33 lakh tonnes of sugar, followed by Uttar Pradesh, which has produced 20.3 lakh tonnes of sugar.

 

'The number of operating factories is also higher at 497 against 479 which operated last year on the corresponding date,' said ISMA.

 

Based on port information and market reports, ISMA has pegged India's export contracts at 45-50 lakh tonnes, against the quota of 60 lakh tonnes, out of which 6 lakh tonnes of sugar has been physically dispatched out of the country till November 30.

 

'Another about 8-9 lakh tonnes of sugar is in the pipeline to be exported in the month of December. The total exports by the end of December could be around 15 lakh tonnes,' said ISMA.

 

Indian sugar mills and exporters have demanded for a second tranche of export quota for the ongoing sugarcane crushing season.

Raktsey Karpo Apricot of Ladakh got its first ever Geographical Indication (GI). This coveted GI tag certification is given for twenty years.Raktsey Karpo Apricot is registered recently in the GI tag lists along with the nine other items. Raktsey Karpo variety is unique to the region of Ladakh although it grows more than thirty types of Apricots. This Ladakh exclusive apricot variety is matchless in sweetness and colorful with white Kernel.

 

The Ladakhi apricot Raktsey Karpo received its first-ever Geographical Indication (GI). This highly sought-after GI tag accreditation is granted for 20 years. Along with nine other items, Raktsey Karpo Apricot has recently been registered in the GI tag lists. Despite growing more than thirty different varieties of apricots, the Raktsey Karpo variety is exclusive to the Ladakh region. This unique apricot type from Ladakh is unparalleled in flavour and vibrant with white Kernel.

 

Among the other nine fruits growing in Ladakh, apricot is a significant fruit with large cultivation in both the Leh and Kargil Districts. Additionally, apricot is being promoted as One District One Product for Kargil. It is distributed widely throughout Ladakh, with particular abundance in Sham regions (lower Ladakh), which include Dha-Hanu, Garkhon, Skurbuchan, Domkhar, Wanla, Khaltse, and Timosgang, as well as in Kargil.

India is the fastest growing major economy in the world and is all set to achieve USD 5 trillion GDP by 2024-25, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday. Addressing an event organised by industry body FICCI, Gadkari said the central government is aiming to boost growth and employment to achieve sustainable development.

 

The road transport and highways minister said India will play a key role in achieving global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.

 

Gadkari noted that India needs to increase its exports and reduce imports.

 

'We are also working on developing alternative, clean and green fuel like bio ethanol, bio-CNG, bio-LNG and green hydrogen,' he said, adding green hydrogen is the fuel for the future.

 

The minister said currently India's automobile industry is worth Rs 7.5 lakh crore and he wants to take it to Rs 15 lakh crore.'This will create lots of new jobs.'

 

He also said his focus is on reducing cost of construction. 'We are trying to minimise use of steel and cement.'

India's stockpile of wheat was above the buffer stock norm at the last scheduled count on October 1 and the next such quarterly review which takes into account seasonal procurement cycle, will be due on January 1. According to a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha by Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal, the minimum buffer requirement changes every quarter, peaking on July 1 when procurement of Rabi crop ends.

 

It dips to the lowest on April 1 as accumulated stocks get released for beneficiaries of government schemes ahead of the new crop coming in.

 

As per the reply, India's wheat stock was 227.46 lakh tonnes on October 1, 2022, as compared to the buffer norm of 205.20 lakh tonnes.

 

The stockpile has since dwindled to 190.27 lakh tonnes as on December 1, 2022, primarily due to the release of foodgrain for supply to poor beneficiaries while hardly any procurement was added to the stockpile.

 

At the next count on January 1, the buffer requirement of wheat is 138 lakh tonnes.

 

On Thursday, the ministry said in a statement that the Government of India has sufficient food grain stocks under the central pool to meet the requirement of NFSA (National Food Security Act) and its other welfare schemes as well as for additional allocation of PMGKAY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana).

 

About 159 lakh tonnes of wheat will be available as on January 1, 2023, which is well above the buffer norm requirement of 138 lakh tonnes, it had said. As on December 12, around 182 lakh tonnes of wheat is available in the central pool.

 

In the written reply to Rajya Sabha, the average retail prices of wheat in the country stood at Rs 31.38 per kg in November, up 7 per cent from rates in May when a ban was imposed on exports of wheat.

 

Wheat procurement in rabi marketing season (April-June) of 2022-23 fell to 187.92 lakh tonnes as against 433.44 lakh tonnes in 2021-22 as market price of wheat was higher than the ruling MSP.

 

India's wheat production declined to 106.84 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year (July-June) from 109.6 million tonnes in the previous year due to heat waves in certain states like Punjab and Haryana.

The Centre is committed to improve trade facilitation for every stakeholder, including Customs Department personnel and those involved in the trading communities, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Sunday. Beyond construction of a new building, these days emphasis is also given on how energy-efficient the buildings would be so that there is no pollution or disturbance to anyone, she said at an event here.

 

'I am extremely happy to lay the foundation stone for new office complex 'Vaigai' which is aptly named and actually comes out of the commitment that the nation has made to improve trade facilitation', Sitharaman said at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of new office complex 'Vaigai' at Customs House here.

 

'There was a time when we thought that we have to build office space based on officers, staff and requirements. These days, it is also looking at how green our buildings are going to be, and how energy-efficient these buildings will be,' she said.

 

'In trade facilitation, the country actually stands to benefit from and also to set standards on the way in which we have our Customs or tax officials and their workplaces,' she said.

 

Hailing that the proposed building being set up at a cost of Rs 92 crore would accommodate 11 partnership agencies of Customs Department, she said the building would set a standard in the way it is being constructed.

 

'Today facilitating import-export agents, women officers and their children are all taken into consideration when we build our offices,' she said.

 

According to the officials, the new building would also have a refreshment area for women employees and also a creche.

 

Sitharaman hailed the 'facelift' given to the existing over century-old buildings of the Customs Department and said it was thoughtfully done and drives inspiration from the Centre's 'Swachch Bharat' campaign.

 

'Polishing those credible awards won by the Customs Department and giving them the due shine is very symbolic and also indicative to what extent minute planning has happened so that the old building is also more workable and gives the ambience that is required for everybody working' she said.

 

According to chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs Vivek Johri, the new ground-plus-nine-storeyed complex would accommodate 11 trading partners of Customs for faster clearance of import and export cargo once it becomes operational.

 

The building would be designed like a 'vessel' or a 'ship' and it would be similar to future constructions that would be undertaken by the department, he said.

 

The new complex would also be one of the 24 new infrastructure projects undertaken by the Customs Department at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore across the country, he said.

Agriculture and Processed Food Exports Development Authority (APEDA) organised a virtual Agri Meet, the Curtain Raiser for the International Year of Millet 2023 program in association with the Indian Embassy at Nepal. The program was participated by government officials of India and Nepal, exporters, importers, SHGs, FPOs, and others. More than 150 participants joined the meeting both physically and virtually.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Chief of Embassy, Prasanna Shrivastava and Director APEDA, Dr Tarun Bajaj.

 

APEDA's Regional Head (ER) briefed about the program and indicated that this will pave the way to enhance the export of Millet and Millet based products from the Country. This will benefit the farmers, FPOs and SHGs of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal as the transport approach to Nepal is much easier from this region. As per the records, the millet was exported to Nepal for an amount of Rs 44 crore in the year 2021-22. For the current fiscal, the millet export has been targeted with at least Rs 100 crore. The role of the State Government of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal is very crucial now.

 

Shrivastava indicated the huge scope of Indian millet for the importing countries. The mandate of the Indian Government is to promote the traditional food which has the potential to increase the income of the farmers and will provide better and healthy livelihood, he added.

 

Bajaj noted that India's role as the Presidency of G20 will open the pathway to become a food superpower and quality food supplier to the world of this hidden treasure.

 

Among other speakers, Senior Scientist (CISH), General Manager (APEDA), Second Secretary (Indian Embassy) represented India's contingent.

 

Few importers remained present and exporters showed their keen interest to have Indian millet reach Nepal.

 

Millet growing areas of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal will be targeted to have the quality produce for the importing countries like Nepal in the days to come.

 

In an interview with Regional Head, Eastern Region of APEDA, Sandip Saha said that the small grain has won the confidence of the United Nations' General Assembly with the recommendation of the Prime Minister of India to declare the year 2023 as the International Year of Millet. 'Very soon, few shipments of millet and its value added products will be exported from Odisha and exporters have shown their commitment. A year-long action plan has been prepared in consultation with the states of the eastern region. The entire country is celebrating India's position as number one Country of the world in terms of production and richly having almost all millet varieties available. We have already conducted a Millet specific capacity development program at Lohardaga District and identified the next one at Khunti District,' he added.

Government is promoting natural farming through a sub-scheme namely Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati (BPKP) under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) since 2019-2020. So far 4.09 lakh ha area has been brought under BPKP.

 

Department of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare (DA&FW) is undertaking large scale training of Master Trainers, Champion Farmers and practicing farmers  on techniques of Natural Farming through National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) and National Center of Organic and Natural Farming (NCONF). It has also sensitized the public representative like Gram-Pradhan on the technique and benefits of Natural Farming. Study material on 22 regional languages has been prepared and697 Master Trainers have been developed on natural farming and 997 training were conducted on natural farming for 56952 Gram Pradhans through MANAGE. In addition, Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has initiated research in 20 locations to validate natural farming techniques besides demonstrating in 425 KVKs to show cases the benefits of natural farming.

 

A Digital web portal (naturalfarming.dac.gov.in) has been launched for promotion of natural farming to display information about implementation framework, resources, implementation progress, farmer’s registration, blog etc.

 

Under BPKP, natural farming is being promoted in cluster of 500 ha and Rs. 12200.00 is provided per ha for three years, in which Rs. 2000 is provided as incentives to farmers through DBT. 

 

Under BPKP, to facilitate marketing of natural farming products, Rs. 2700 per ha is provided for PGS Certification and Residue Analysis for three years. Farmers can also avail assistance @ Rs. 8800/ha for 3 years from PKVY funds for marketing, value addition and publicity of natural farming products.

 

Natural Farming is a way of chemical free farming based on locally available resources with no chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers are encouraged to adopt Natural Farming by wide publicity through press and print media, publication of leaflets/booklets, organization of workshops, exhibitions, farmer fairs, information on State/Government of India web portals etc. 

 

This information was given by the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar  in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

India could in the upcoming budget unveil a plan to promote districts as hubs of exports of specific products. The commerce and industry ministry is working on an integrated scheme that combines Districts as Export Hub (DEH) and One District One Product (ODOP), which is likely to be announced in Budget FY24, officials said.

 

The scheme could be provided an allocation of Rs.4,500 crore. Tax breaks, jobs or plan to beat China: What will Budget 2023 offer? Click to know

'We have integrated the two schemes and the aim is to boost rural entrepreneurship and exports of novel, indigenous, organic, and ethnic products,' said an official.

 

The boost to exports is being planned when the growth in the country's outbound shipments were flat in November at $31.99 billion as against $31.8 billion a year ago.

 

Initially, a pilot with 50 districts could be started, which would then be expanded to the 733 districts of the country. The districts will be assessed on parameters such as export plans and efforts to plug infrastructure and logistics gaps.

 

As per the official, the 50 districts for the pilot project would be chosen through the challenge route.

 

The ministry has identified products and services - including Geographical Indications and other significant products-with export potential in each district.

 

The framework of the DEH initiative comprises formation of District Export Promotion Committee and preparation of District Export Strategy or Action Plan. District Export Promotion Committee and State Export Promotion Committee have been constituted in all the 36 states and UTs.

 

Officials said that the Draft District Action Plan has been prepared for 570 districts and the ministry has developed a web portal to monitor the progress of these plans.

 

The ODOP Initiative seeks to convert each district into a manufacturing and export hub by identifying products with export potential in the district.

 

'While the integrated scheme will benefit exporters, the government should devise a mechanism in the selected districts for the endorsement and branding of their products,' said an industry representative, adding that local manufacturers and small exporters should be connected to provide a global platform to market their products.

India and Australia have signed the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA) on 2 April,2022, which will come into force on 29.12.2022.

 

Indian exports will benefit from preferential zero duty market access in Australia for 100% of its tariff lines, which will benefit India’s labour-intensive sectors such as gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, furniture, food, and agricultural products, engineering products, medical devices, and automobiles. On the other hand, India has provided preferential access to Australia on over 70% of its tariff lines, which are primarily raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores etc., which are required for our domestic manufacturing industry.  Moreover, Australia has also provided additional market access and mobility facility for Indian professionals including chefs and yoga teachers.

 

This information has been provided by Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Smt. Anupriya Patel said in reply to a parliamentary question today.