Raises top end of purchase forecast to 510,000 tonnes, adds comment on prices

 

HAMBURG/PARIS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Algeria's state grains agency OAIC is believed to have bought about 480,000 tonnes to 510,000 tonnes of milling wheat in an international tender which closed on Tuesday, European traders said on Wednesday.

 

This was above the upper end of estimates of 400,000 to 480,000 tonnes from traders on Tuesday evening.

 

The purchase was expected to be largely sourced from Russia and possibly some from Romania and Bulgaria, although technically supplies are optional origin, they said. It is thought one seller will provide about 60,000 tonnes sourced from France.

 

Estimates of the purchase prices on Wednesday were around $380 a tonne cost and freight (c&f) included for the lowest end of the range and up to $384 a tonne c&f at the high end, although some individual traders put the highest price at $385 a tonne c&f. This was similar to estimates on Tuesday evening.

 

Traders said they believed the bulk of the wheat was traded at between $382 and $384 a tonne c&f.

 

More detailed assessments of prices and tonnage bought are still possible later.

 

Algeria is usually the largest export market for European Union wheat, with France the main EU supplier. Algeria does not release results of its tenders and reports are based on trade estimates.

 

A large purchase had been expected at Algeria bought only a relatively modest volume in its previous tender in September which was made at considerably lower prices of down to $369 a tonne c&f.

One District One Product – Districts as Export Hub (ODOP-DEH) initiative by the government has ushered in nearly four times jump in exports on an average across states since the financial year 2018-19, said State Bank of India (SBI) in its latest Ecowrap report on Monday authored by the Group Chief Economic Adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh.

 

The ODOP programme intends to essentially transform every district of the country into an export hub by identifying and promoting a product in which the district specialises. The programme was operationally merged with the Department of Commerce’s DEH initiative around last year. DEH also aimed at converting each district into an export hub. Under ODOP-DEH, products and/or services with export potential have been identified in the country’s 733 districts.

 

'With the introduction of ODOP-DEH in FY20, exports have seen a tremendous increase in nearly all states. Exports of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have increased more than thrice since the introduction of ODOP-DEH initiative,' said Ghosh in the report. 

 

State-wise exports showed Gujarat led the tally in FY22 with exports amounting to $126,805 million, up 366 per cent from $27159 million in FY19 followed by Maharashtra’s $73,120 million exports in FY22, jumping 218 per cent from $22,986 million in FY19 and Tamil Nadu’s 192 per cent growth in exports from $12,033 million in FY19 to $35,169 million in FY22, the report noted.  

 

However, so far, services identified for export promotion are not large and only pertain to tourism, and IT/ITES. Hence, Ghosh suggested services exports be given a more prominent place under ODOP-DEH. Indian Economy is service-based and around 55 per cent of GDP comes from the service sector. 

 

Importantly, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in August this year had called for integrating ODOP with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) project to 'further expand the frontiers of ODOP by bringing buyers and sellers together on a democratic platform. Goyal was speaking at an ODOP event. Goyal had suggested that the ODOP catalogue to be made exhaustive to serve as a one-stop gifting destination for ministries, missions, state governments and industry and also to serve as a high-quality database of high-quality suppliers. 

On a day when International Monetary Fund (IMF) cuts India’s GDP forecast by 60 basis points to 6.8 per cent, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed optimism that the economy will do well and is expected to achieve 7 per cent growth. She also assured that the reforms process to accelerate further.

 

'Reforms are going through steadily and continuously. It’s not like we’ve done that and the story ended there. We are committed to third-generation reforms and are going through with them,' she said during an interaction at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Further, she added that pre-pandemic efforts included making the Indian economy robust with the infrastructure of not just roads but also digital infrastructure-ready financial inclusion so that everybody has access to a bank account. All this came in handy during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Answering a question on priorities Modi government might have in the budget regarding specific expenditure revenue, she said the growth priorities will be kept among the top priorities, and inflation concerns will be closely examined. 'Measures, specific, may be difficult at this stage because it`s a bit too early. But broadly, the growth priorities will be kept absolutely on the top, even as I speak about the concerns that inflation brings before me. So, inflation concerns will have to be addressed. But then how would you manage growth would be the natural question,' she said.

 

She stated that the next annual budget of India would need to be very carefully crafted to maintain the momentum of the country’s growth. She also noted that it would address inflation issues. She said the grouping of the top 20 economies of the globe has significant potential to work toward the global public good before India assumes the G-20 annual leadership in December.

 

'Advanced nations must bear responsibility for the 'global spillover' of their political and economic policy decisions,' she said.

 

When asked about UPI and BHIM App to work in more and more countries, she said, 'Not just that, the UPI (Unified Payments Interface), the BHIM app, and NCPI (the National Payments Corporation of India) are all now being worked in such a way that their systems in their respective country, however, robust or otherwise can talk to our system and the inter-operability itself will give strength for Indians expertise in those countries,' she said while adding that Indian is working together with many countries.

The tenth meeting of the UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on Investments (‘The Joint Task Force’) took place today in Mumbai. It was co-chaired by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, and His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

 

The Joint Task Force was established in 2013 to promote trade, investment and economic ties between the UAE and India. This was the first meeting of the Joint Task Force since the signing of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and unveiling of the Joint UAE-India Vision Statement in February 2022 during the virtual summit between Shri. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. 

 

The CEPA is a major trade agreement set to transform bilateral economic, trade and investment ties and propel economic growth. Both these historic landmarks provide a clear roadmap for continued strengthening of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries at an accelerated pace.

 

During this tenth meeting of the Joint Task Force, the co-chairs recognized the early trends of positive impact of the historic India-UAE CEPA on bilateral trade between the two countries since it entered into force in May 2022. The co-chairs urged businessmen on both sides to gain optimal benefits from the conducive trade ecosystem created under CEPA. The co-chairs also noted progress on various aspects of the CEPA including establishment of the CEPA Joint Committee and related sub-committees.

 

The two delegations reviewed the status of the negotiations of the India-UAE Bilateral Investment Treaty. Twelve rounds of negotiations have been conducted till date. Both sides noted that much progress could have been achieved since the commencement of the negotiations, and therefore reiterated their commitment to accelerate the process for an early conclusion of a balanced and mutually beneficial agreement.

 

Discussions also took place on ways of enhancing bilateral investments in key sectors like food security, manufacturing, infrastructure, energy and technology. In this context, it was agreed that the concerned authorities in both countries will explore establishment of efficient and integrated Single Window Solutions and Virtual Trade Corridors to reduce costs and time involved in trade and investment related procedures. From the UAE side, it was agreed that the Department of Economic Development of Abu Dhabi will explore this area of cooperation with the concerned counterparties in India in order to agree a mutually beneficial implementation approach.

 

As a means of encouraging increased investment flows by UAE sovereign investment entities into India, the two sides reviewed UAE’s request with respect to providing tax incentives to certain UAE sovereign investment entities under existing UAE-India Tax Treaty, and India’s response to provide the same under the existing domestic tax laws of India. It was agreed that bilateral discussions should continue to reach a mutually beneficial outcome which meets the policy objectives of both countries. In this context, the support provided to UAE sovereign entities through the Finance Act 2020 and subsequent issuance of notifications for tax exemption was noted and appreciated.

 

An important area discussed was the creation of a mechanism for carrying out bilateral trade in national currencies. Referring to the ongoing discussions between Reserve Bank of India and Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates on Unified Payment Interface (UPI) as a common digital payments platform, both sides agreed to continue discussions.

 

In the positive backdrop provided by the extensive and growing trade and investment relationship between India and the UAE, the two sides acknowledged the importance of using the Joint Task Force as a forum to address specific issues and difficulties faced by the companies when investing into each other’s countries. India has set up a UAE Plus Desk in 2018 and established a Fast Track Mechanism in 2019 to identify, resolve and expedite issues faced by the UAE companies and investors in India. The UAE Special Desk in India was commended for its efforts in leading and facilitating UAE investments across sectors. In this regard, it was agreed that the Indian side will provide the necessary support to UAE Fast Track Mechanism in India to ensure speedy resolution of pending issues and difficulties experienced by a number of UAE companies and banks operating in India.

 

It was also agreed that a similar India Fast Track Mechanism would be set up in the UAE immediately to resolve issues pertaining to the Indian investors in the UAE, and to assist Indian companies in market entry and expansion when investing in the UAE. In this context, issues pertaining to some Indian companies in UAE were noted and it was agreed that the UAE side will provide the necessary support to ensure speedy and mutually satisfactory resolution of these issues.

 

Speaking at the meeting, Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Government of India, and Co-Chair of the Joint Task Force, said:  'During the last meeting of the Joint, Task Force we had decided to fast-track the negotiations of CEPA, and we finalized the agreement in unprecedented 88 days. I am sure that the discussions we have had today on mutually beneficial areas like food security and bilateral trade in national currencies, will also see similar thrust from both sides. The India-UAE relations are witnessing unprecedented momentum. We have a large number of opportunities for cooperation and increasing investments especially the key sectors like infrastructure and technology, especially Fintech.'

 

At the conclusion of the meeting, His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Co-Chair of the Joint Task Force, said:

 

'Since the last meeting of the Joint Task Force in October 2021, several significant milestones have been reached that serve to cement the close, growing and strategic relationship between India and the UAE.  Within this broader context, the Joint Task Force continues to facilitate positive dialogue between our two countries as we strengthen the economic links that have helped to draw our nations together. The Joint Task Force has proved effective in creating new opportunities and removing barriers, and it will continue to play an important role in promoting bilateral investment in support of our respective countries’ growth ambitions.' 

 

The meeting was attended by H.E. Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE State Minister for Foreign Trade, H.E. Dr. Ahmed A.R. Albanna, UAE’s Ambassador to India, H.E. Shri Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, and senior officials from relevant government authorities, investment entities and companies from both countries.

India’s largest international exhibition for food & drink technology - 16th Anutec – International FoodTec India 2022, came to a successful conclusion with over 21,000 unique visitors with over 450 exhibitors from 52 countries along with a series of seminars, workshops and full house conferences discussing sustainability of food industry challenges & solutions, food wastage, nutritional value of food, policy makers’ involvement - to a broader audience, thus making the conversations more engaging and wider in scope.

 

The expo was marked by the presence of high-profile dignitaries, from ministers to associations and media from food processing industry and saw various industry bodies discuss innovative solutions suiting to India’s agroclimatic & socio-cultural requirements.

 

Inaugurating the fair, Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Food Processing and Jal Shakti, underlined the need of right techniques & machines for food processing sector. He said, 'Reducing compliance is important but alone it will not suffice to ensure the growth of food processing sector, as there is also an urgent need to adopt the right techniques and momentum for processing our farm outputs particularly items like fruits and vegetables with short shelf life. Happy to experience the innovative technologies at the display that will help create a modern infrastructure which can help in efficient supply chain management across MSME large and small segments. We will do all that we can to simplify the food policy and support the food processing industry.'

 

Commenting on the success of the fair, Milind Dixit, managing director, Koelnmesse India YA Trade Fairs, said, 'Not only did we have an increased number of visitors, but 16th Anutec also had many success stories, Unipack Engineering Private Ltd closed a bulk order from a single customer, Siddhivinayak Agri Processing Pvt Ltd announced a joint venture with its Netherlands partner Kuipers for their engineering division business. And success stories are still pouring in.'

 

The event witnessed participation from leading domestic players including Heat & Control, Clearpack, Syntegon, Hassia India Pvt Ltd, Mamta Machinery, Nichrome, Kanchan Metals, Vedic Pac Systems and Keron Food Processing Technologies.

The FSSAI has invited applications for the membership in Scientific Committee –SC and Scientific Panels- SPs for the period from 2023 to 2025. Eligible scientists / individual experts having experience in the areas of food safety, applied nutrition, regulatory food science and / or related fields for the membership in the SC and various SPs can apply.

 

The notice issued by the FSSAI says that the applicants should have five years of R&D experience in the area of food safety & applied nutrition and/or regulatory food science.

 

The last date for submission of application was November 4, 2022.

 

According to the FSSAI, the Food Authority’s major scientific arms are the SC and SPs. Both of these bodies provide necessary scientific opinion and assist in development of standards through a well-defined process. In addition to these two statutory scientific entities, the Food Authority has also established some non-statutory bodies which interface with the SC and SPs.

 

The Scientific Committee is a statutory body consisting of six independent experts (nominated by the Food Authority and not belonging to any of the SPs) and Chairpersons of all the SPs, as Members.

 

Currently, it has a strength of 27 Members. The SC acts as the link between SPs and the Food Authority. It mainly examines the recommendations made by each of the panel and further recommends them for approval by the Food Authority. This is the highest body that is responsible for providing scientific opinion to the Food Authority.

 

SPs, on the otherhand, are made for the purpose of developing standards and for providing scientific opinions to the FSSAI. Currently, there are a total of 21 SPs covering aspects related to particular food commodities (called the vertical panels; e.g., milk and milk products) and aspects that span across different commodities (referred to as horizontal panels; e.g., pesticides residues in food commodities).

A one day workshop on production of Basmati Rice for Export was held today at village Ramgarh, Samba under the aegis of Bharat ka Amrut Mahotsav.

 

The workshop was organized by Department of Agriculture Production & Farmers Welfare, Jammu in collaboration with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA) and attended by DDC Chairman Samba, Keshav Dutt Sharma as the chief guest, Director Agriculture Jammu, K. K. Sharma as special guest, besides other functionaries.

 

The DDC Chairman advised the farmers to take full advantage of such technical awareness programmes in the field of Agriculture to uplift their economic status.

 

The Director Agriculture Jammu presented a brief overview of the Paddy cultivation scenario in Jammu division. He underlined the need of eliminating the constraints in production of quality and disease free basmati seed as seed is the foundation of better basmati produce.

 

He highlighted that GI Tag for Basmati Rice will definitely go a long way in boosting the export prospects of Jammu Basmati. Director also  made the farmers aware regarding various ongoing farmers’ welfare schemes.

 

Senior Scientist from Basmati Export Development Foundation, APEDA Dr.Parmod Tomar delivered a detailed lecture on export of Basmati. He conducted the technical session covering Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) for Basmati to match export standards, disease and insect pest management in basmati, IPM strategy in crop production and formation of Farmer Producer Organizations.

 

Welcome address was presented by Joint Director (Extension), Jammu, Subash Chander Sharma.

 

BDC Chairman, Darshan Singh, DDC members, DDM NABARD Samba,  Head KVK Samba, Sarpanchs/Panchs more than 150 farmers were present on the occasion besides team of Agriculture department of  district Samba comprising of DAO Ext  SMS AEOs, Jaeos and Aeas .

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said that the registration of foreign food manufacturing facilities who are intended to export milk and meat products shall be mandatory. The order will be effective from February 1, 2023.

 

The registrations have been made mandatory for foreign food manufacturing facilities exporting products such as meat, milk and infants' food to India. The categories under which the order will remain applicable include: poultry, fish and their products; egg powder; infant food; and nutraceuticals.

 

Earlier, Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday asked the Quality Council of India to strive to bring about a convergence of all the various quality and standards organisations in the country. He asked the industry to ensure that their products meet international quality standards and help build 'Brand India'.

 

The minister, who was addressing an event organised by the Quality Council of India (QCI), called for convergence of various quality certification related organisations such as FSSAI, the BIS, the Rail or Defense establishments.

 

The FSSAI has requested all competent authorities of exporting countries to provide the list of existing manufacturers and those who intended to export these food products to India. Based on information provided by them, the FSSAI will register these facilities on its portal.

In a small Indian village in Assam’s Baksa district, farmers are growing fragrant lemons that are now coveted by London and Dubai. The Kaji Nemu is an indigenous variety of lemon and has been a staple of every Assamese household. The taste of the lemon is such that people don’t even waste the rind or leaves.

 

One of the villages from where the Kaji Nemu reached London is Aouhata. Through the joint push by Nilachal Agro Producer Company of Salbari, the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development and Authority (APEDA), and the former Deputy Commissioner of Baksa, this inaccessible village and its farmers could access English markets.

 

'The lemons were sold at roughly Rs 35 per kg, which made a big difference for the farmers who were selling it at Rs 9-10,' says Ayush Garg, the former Deputy Commissioner of Baksa. In local markets, even in the peak season of August, the lemons would fetch just 40 paise per piece. Foreign exports are changing that.

China on Monday set its low tariff rate quota for wheat, corn and rice imports in 2023 at the same volumes as the previous year.

 

The Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) for wheat imports in 2023 was set at 9.636 million tonnes, according to a notice published on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission.

 

Import quotas for corn and rice were set respectively at 7.2 million tonnes and 5.32 million tonnes, according to the state planner.

 

The import quota for cotton was set at 894,000 tonnes, a separate notice on the state planner’s website said.