In line with the existing clearance system for imports, the government is now planning to introduce a single window clearance system for exports. A system is in the works where web-based registration of goods, including from special economic zones, would be allowed to facilitate integration of Customs systems with other regulatory agencies to ensure faster clearances for consignments, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Chairman Vivek Johri said on Thursday.

 

'Currently, we still have physical process for registration on exports side…but we are actually working on a system where web-based registration of goods is possible which would mean that there’s no need for any broker or exporter to actually travel to a port to submit their documents to customs for initiating processes'

 

'You are familiar with the single window on the import side. We are trying to introduce something similar on the export side. There are export consignments that require regulatory intervention from control agencies,say drug controller, other agencies. We are trying to integrate Customs ICEGATE with these agencies. This will further compress time taken to release export consignments,' Johri said at CII National Exports Summit. Indian Customs Electronic Gateway (ICEGATE) is the national Customs portal of CBIC that provides e-filing services including electronic filing of the Bill of Entry (import goods declaration), Shipping Bills (export goods declaration), e-payment of Customs Duty, Common Signer utility for signing all the Customs Documents, to trade, cargo carriers and other trading partners electronically. At present, about 43,542 users are registered with ICEGATE who are serving over 12.5 lakh importers/exporters. Customs is also trying to integrate SEZs to the ICES portal.

 

Johri also said that the average release time, which is measured by the time of arrival of goods to the port and their actual departure, of export cargo has been halved. The Trade Facilitation Action Plan, which ends in 2023, has set a target of average release time of 24 hours and 12 hours for exports through sea port and airport, respectively. 'There is a need for further compression in release time taken by regulatory agencies… The target is quite steep… We are very consciously working on reducing the average release time,' Johri said. He also said that 80-85 per cent of the average release time of export cargo is on account of the time taken after Customs clears the consignments.

 

There is a need to share real time information with exporters, such as the time when the vessel is docking at port for taking the consignment, which will also help cut down on the time to release export consignments, he said. 'India has set an ambitious target of reducing the average release time of exporting cargo through sea and air to 24 hrs and 12 hrs respectively. The average release time has been reduced to half of what it used to be, but still a lot of work is still needed to meet the target level,' he said.

India's finance ministry is reportedly working with the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to integrate Customs systems to ensure faster clearance.

 

CBIC Chairman Vivek Johri said the department is working on web registration of exports, which would reduce the average release time of consignments/cargoes from ports and airports.

 

'You are familiar with single window in import side. We are trying to introduce something similar in the export side. There are export consignments that require regulatory intervention, say drug controller, other agencies,' Johri said.

 

In essence, the departments are attempting to reduce the time between shipments landing in India's ports and reaching their final destination.

 

'We are trying to integrate Customs ICEGATE with these agencies. This will further compress time taken to release export consignments,' he added.

 

He said the average release time, which is measured by the time of arrival of goods to the port and their actual departure, of export cargo has been halved.

 

The Trade Facilitation Action Plan, which ends in 2023, has set a target of average release time of 24 hours and 12 hours for exports through sea port and airport, respectively.

 

'There is need for further compression in release time taken by regulatory agencies... The target is quite steep... We are very consciously working on reducing the average release time,' Johri said while addressing the CII National Exports Summit.

 

Johri said there is a need to share real time information with exporters, such as the time when the vessel is docking at port for taking the consignment, which will also help cut down on the time to release export consignments.

India transformed its dairy sector from milk deficiency to becoming the world’s largest producer with the help of technological innovations and bringing people together under a governance structure, Meenesh Shah, Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), said at the Science & Innovation Forum 2022 organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome, Italy.

 

Shah said India contributes 23 per cent of global milk production with an annual growth rate of about 6 per cent, which could be possible 'through innovations - technological, scientific processes and more importantly bringing people together and building a governance structure.'

 

At the global dairy forum, Shah presented India’s smallholder dairy system to global experts and shared experiences of using innovation and digitisation for dairy development.

 

Discussing cooperation

On the sidelines of the World Food Forum, the NDDB Chairman met Beth Bechdol and Maria Helena Semedo, FAO’s Deputy Director-Generals and Thanawat Tiensin, Director, Animal Production and Health Division (NSA), to discuss the Indian smallholder farming system, sustainable livestock production systems and innovations.

 

During the meetings, the opportunities for working together in the dairy development area were discussed, and Shah proposed jointly organising an international symposium as part of the G20 presidency of India, an NDDB statement said.

 

On the theme of ‘Harnessing science and innovation for sustainable livestock sector transformation’, Shah spoke on ‘Technological innovation in support of small-scale dairy producers in India’.

 

NDDB now focuses on digital ecosystems like Information Network for Animal Productivity & Health (INAPH), the national database in which over 230 million animals are registered & National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM) having components like traceability, disease surveillance, and control programmes.

 

Dung management

He explained India’s manure (cattle dung) management initiatives being undertaken by NDDB with partner organisations and how it successfully addresses the cooking gas needs of households, besides generating income from the sale of bio-slurry, solid and liquid organic fertilisers and improving soil fertility.

 

This initiative is also being furthered by setting up large-scale biogas plants that would meet the energy needs of the dairy plants, he said.

 

He further stressed that the time has come to take the successes of the laboratory to the field, and improve operational efficiency & reduce the impact of dairying on the environment for which such cross-learning experiences and sharing platforms would be necessary for implementing best practices across the globe.

Leading South Korean animal feed maker Nonghyup Feed Inc. (NOFI) purchased about 30,000 tonnes of animal feed barley in an international tender for up to 60,000 tonnes which closed on Wednesday, European traders said.

 

It was bought at an estimated $332.25 a tonne c&f for arrival in South Korea around Dec. 20, 2022, plus an extra $1.75 a tonne surcharge for additional port unloading. Seller was believed to be trading house Bunge.

 

Traders expected the barley to be sourced from Australia or Canada with shipment between November and December. No purchase was reported of another 30,000 tonne consignment also sought in the tender for arrival in South Korea around April 20, 2023, traders said.

The two-day Kisan Samman Sammelan 2022 (agri business conclave) convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought cheer to budding innovator-entrepreneurs from Kerala, who were part of the conclave on October 17 and 18.

 

Innovations and enterprises incubated at the Kerala Agricultural University’s (KAU) agri-incubation centre and at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) incubation centre, among others, were presented at the meet in Delhi.

 

One of the entrepreneurs, who was part of the Kerala delegation, said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar, and Ministers of State Shobha Karandlaje and Kailash Choudhary were among those who visited Kerala stalls.

 

Five innovators each from the CIFT incubation unit and from the KAU incubation centre were among those who were invited to the meet in which more than 300 budding entrepreneurs participated.

 

Those who represented Kerala included an entrepreneur producing edible plates from wheat bran, a woman making traditional sweet ‘payasam’ from jack fruit seeds, one making healthier fruit chips, one who developed an easily useable mobile application for less literate farmers, another producing seaweed-based herbal gargle with anti-viral-bacterial properties, and one making ready-to-cook mussel products.

 

Another participant from Kerala said it was a cheering experience for innovators to meet farmers and new entrepreneurs from across the country.

 

A communication from CIFT said the meet witnessed the attendance of more than 13,500 farmers and 1,500 agri start-ups from across the country, and virtual attendance of farmers. The ‘Sammelan’ was also attended by researchers, policy-makers, and other stakeholders.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal has said that the world today is looking at India with great confidence. This trust has developed after 8 years of painstakingly building up India’s story. Structural reforms have been the core agenda of the government, helping us to lay the building blocks for the future. He was addressing CII’s 3rd Edition of Exports Summit today.

 

Shri Goyal noted that India’s billion plus population is the boon for the country as it attracts a lot of companies, brings economies of scale and opportunities for the country. Shri Goyal said India must make quality our brand and must strive to ensure that India is associated with High Quality products. Making quality our brand will truly revolutionize the future of India and the possibilities for our export sector to grow much faster, he added.

 

The Minister said that Indian Missions abroad have been asked to provide support to our exporters, help them get new opportunities, new business into those countries. He asked them to start engaging with India missions and seek assistance if they face any difficulty.  He said CII acts as a bridge between government and exporters and provides a platform to understand each other better. He urged CII to flag the issues faced by industry and share suggestions with the government to properly address these issues.

 

Minister appealed to large industry players to support and handhold small players so that they can understand the benefits of Quality control orders and focus on meeting quality requirements. He further added that it is also economically prudent to provide good quality goods and services. Emphasizing that reciprocity is the way forward in international trade, Shri Goyal said India must strive for trade practices with other countries on an equal footing.

 

Shri Goyal said Industry must draw learnings from phenomenal success achieved by the IT Sector.  He opined that when any sector is allowed to be on their own and succeed based on their competitiveness, the  quality of service improves. This coupled with the Indian ecosystem which includes trust, rule of law, decisive, strong government will help capture larger markets. He said that Industry must not not look for protectionism as it will not help it evolve to be able to meet the requirements of consumers. It must strive to focus on sectors where it has a competitive advantage. With the spirit of grasping the competitive advantage, we will be able to expand our businesses, scale up, and improve quality, he added. 

 

Shri Goyal referred to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his 15th august address this year, wherein he articulated his vision of a developed India by 2047 and getting out of the colonial mindset and getting back to our roots, and focussing on our core strength areas, Shri Goyal said we must go ahead with confidence and a spirit of enterprise, must become entrepreneurs, job creators and not job seekers.

 

Shri Goyal called upon exporters to focus on ‘SPICE’ - sustainability, productivity, innovation, collaboration and excellence. He added that the world is looking at sustainability, productivity in whatever is being produced. He noted that countries successful today are those which focussed on innovation. He urged the industry to imbibe the spirit of competition and yet collaborate with each other, and strive towards excellence.

The central government is promoting bio-fortified wheat varieties which are high yielding and suitable for cultivation across various agri climate zone in India. These varieties are fortified with Iron (Fe) and Zinc (Zn).

 

The below table shows the name of the variety, the name of the zone it is suitable for and the sowing condition is it suitable for.

 

S.No.	Name of the released variety (>40 ppm Fe and Zn) 2022-23	Zone and condition
1	WB 02 and HPBW 01	ITS, NWPZ
2	DBW 303	HYPT- NWPZ
3	HD 3226	ITS, NWPZ
4	PBW 752	ILS, NWPZ
5	HD 3086	ITS, NWPZ
6	K 0307	ITS, NEPZ
7	DBW 187	ITS, NEPZ and NWPZ
8	HD2888	RITS, NEPZ
9	WR 544	NEPZ, VLS
10	DDW 47 (Durum)	CZ, RITS
11	HI 8737 (Durum)	CZ, ITS
12	HI8627 (Durum)	CZ, RITS

In addition to cultivation of varieties, agronomic management will help enhance micronutrient content. For improving Zn content specially in deficient soils, application of ZnSO4 (@4 kg per hectare with 0.05% solution in water) must be used.

 

Zone & Sowing Condition

 

NWPZ (North Western Plain Zone) – Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan (except Kota and Udaipur divisions) and Western UP (except Jhansi division), parts of J&K (Jammu and Kathua distt.) and parts of Himachal Pradesh (Una distt. and Paonta valley) and Uttarakhand (Tarai region).

 

NEPZ (North Eastern Plain Zone) – Eastern UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and plains of NE States.

 

CZ (Central Zone) – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kota and Udaipur divisions of Rajasthan and Jhansi division of Uttar Pradesh

 

RITS – Restricted Irrigated Timely Sown

ILS – Irrigated Late Sown

ITS – Irrigated Timely Sown

VLS – Very Late Sown

There is a huge scope for India to move in the global value chain systems and have high-value addition in global exports, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Thursday. India's share in global exports is less than 2 per cent. So, huge potential is there to boost the shipments despite global headwinds and low trade growth predictions, he added.

 

'So, we can easily aim for doubling our exports and increasing our exports (share) to 10 per cent over a period of time and these opportunities exist even if somebody is saying that global trade scenario is looking bleak,' he said here at the CII National Exports Summit.

 

The domestic exporters should not be pessimistic about this scenario, he added.

 

'There is a huge scope for India to not only move in the global value chains systems but also to have high-value addition and contribution in the world's exports,' Barthwal noted.

 

The growth in world trade is expected to slow down to one per cent in 2023, due to global uncertainties, according to a WTO forecast.

 

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has also projected a growth of 3.5 per cent in global trade this year against the April estimate of 3 per cent.

 

The secretary also said that global firms are looking at India as an alternative destination for investments.

A more than 100 per cent increase in the export of rapeseed meal during the first half of the current financial year 2022-23 helped India to record a 39 per cent growth in the overall export of oilmeals during the period.

 

According to Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) data, the total export of oilmeals increased to 17.71 lakh tonnes (lt) during April-September in the current fiscal against 12.76 lt in the corresponding period a year ago, recording a 38.82 per cent growth.

 

BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA, said the export doubled and stood at 12.43 lt during the first half of the fiscal against 6.05 lt in April-September of 2021-22.

 

He attributed this to the record crop of rapeseed and crushing, which resulted in the highest processing, availability of rapeseed meal, and export.

 

Currently, India is the most competitive supplier of rapeseed meals to South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and other Far-East countries at $295 a tonne (f.o.b.). The current price of rapeseed meal (Hamburg ex-mill) is quoted at $367 a tonne.

 

Soyameal

Referring to the soyabean meal export, he said, India was out-priced in the international market up to now. However, with the fall in local soyabean price to the level of Rs.5,000-5,100 a quintal, soyabean meal price also reduced to $500 a tonne (f.o.b.) from the highest level of $888 a tonne in March.

 

At present, soybean meal (ex-Rotterdam) currently quoted $559 a tonne. With the likely fall in international soyabean meal price and an expected good crop, coupled with substantial carry forward, the crushing will increase further.

 

Starting with the new season in November, the export of soyabean meal from India is likely to pick up post-Diwali. Indian soyabean meal has the advantage of being a non-GM variety and is preferred in certain European countries, he said.

 

Export of soyabean meal stood at 1.21 lt during April-September of 2022-23 as against 1.61 lt in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

 

Export of ricebran extraction decreased to 2.47 lt in H1 of 2022-23 from 3.45 lt in the corresponding 2021-22, recording a decline of 28.53 per cent. Mehta attributed this to the lesser demand from importing countries.

 

India exported 1.54 lt of castor seed meal during April-September of 2022-23 against 1.62 lt in H1 of 2021-22, recording a decline of 4.93 per cent.

 

S Korea top importer

South Korea imported 5.29 lt of oilmeals (3.37 lt) from India during the first half of 2022-23. This included 4.14 lt of rapeseed meal, 95,557 tonnes of castor seed meal and 18,950 tonnes of soyabean meal.

 

India exported 3.11 lt of oilmeals (2.93 lt) to Vietnam during the period. This included 1.70lt of ricebran extraction, 1.36 lt of rapeseed meal, 2,082 tonnes of soyabean meal, and 1,501 tonnes of groundnut meal.

 

Thailand imported 3.58 lt of oilmeals (1.29 lt) from India during the first six months of 2022-23. This included 3.56 lt of rapeseed meal, and 1,117 tonnes of soyabean meal.

 

Bangladesh imported 1.78 lt of oilmeals (2.11 lt) from India during the H1 of 2022-23. This included 32,763 tonnes of ricebran extraction, and 1.45 lt of rapeseed meal.

 

India exported 61,838 tonnes of oilmeals (48,073 tonnes) to Taiwan during the first six months of the current financial year. This included 41,988 tonnes of castor seed meal, 16,232 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 2,620 tonnes of groundnut meal, and 998 tonnes of soyabean meal.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said that consultations are ongoing for the possible importation of 5,000 metric tons of white onions.

 

DA Undersecretary Kristine Evangelista said that the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) is leading the meetings with various stakeholders reports www.manilatimes.net 

 

On Monday, farmers' group Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) President Rosendo So said he endorsed to President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. the importation of 5,000 metric tons of white onions to address the lack of supply of the bulb in the country.