Sugar mills blame unfair cane pricing for glut Sugar mills have identified the irrational and uneconomical pricing of cane vis-à-vis sugar prices and the government's inertia in resolving this persistent anomaly as the root problem currently faced by them. Sugar mills are plagued by a glut in production, colossal stocks and nose-diving prices for the third year running. Earlier this week, this forced panickly representatives of 149 sugar co-operatives in Maharashtra, lead by political barons such as Sharad Pawar, to virtually cartelise in order to keep prices above Rs 1,150 per quintal. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 19th October '02 Malaysia asks India for additional reduction in palm oil import duty Malaysian Prime Minister asked India to further reduce import duty on palm oil but New Delhi has no commitment in this regard. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 19th October '02 Coffee exports decline by 5% in first half An analysis of the shipment permits issued to exporters by the Coffee Board for the first six months (H1) of the current financial year indicates a disturbing trend. The figure for permits issued indicates that the country's overall exports have fallen by over 5% from 115,035 tonnes for H1 of ‘01-02 to 108,679 tonnes for H1 of the current fiscal. Going by this trend, the over 15% drop in coffee exports between the entire fiscal ‘00-01 and ‘01-02 will not be redressed. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 18th October '02 Sugar body bans factory sales for 4 days Cooperative sugar factories in Maharashtra appear to be in no mood to listen to apex body Maharashtra Sakhar Sangh's advice on how to market their produce. Some of the leading co-operatives sold large quantity at distress prices of Rs 1,000 per quintal ex-mill before the emergency meeting convened today. Some mills sold around 200,000 bags today at Rs 1,070-1,080, even after the emergency meeting headed by Sharad Pawar decided that no factory will sell sugar for four days and the minimum price thereafter will be Rs 1,150-1,200 ex-factory plus excise and transport, depending on the region. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 17th October '02 State sugar co-ops resort to distress sales to offload surplus A few sugar cooperatives in Maharashtra saddled with excess stock have started making distress sales after approaching courts for freedom to sell. “This has brought down the ex-mill price to as low as Rs 1,000 per quintal (Rs 1.085 with duty) from Rs 1,160-1,70 last week,” a miller told. Mills are resorting to panic sales to dispose stocks, but retail consumers are still paying a minimum price of Rs 16 per kg. “The domestic market has potential for expansion if retail price can be brought down to around Rs 14,” he added. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 16th October '02 US labelling norms to hit farm exports United States has issued labelling guidelines for certain farm products which amount to more trade barriers for India's agri-exports like meat, fruits and vegetables to that country. The Interim Voluntary Country of Origin labelling guidelines have been introduced as required in the Farm Bill 2002. According to the new guidelines, agri-exports from countries like India, which acts as third party supplier to many trading houses will have negative implications. Under the guidelines, fresh and frozen muscle cuts of beef, veal, lamb, pork, fish, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables and peanuts may be labelled at retail to indicate the country of origin. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 15th October '02 Integrated development scheme for Haryana sugar co-ops A Rs 20.63 crore integrated sugar development scheme is being implemented for 12 co-operative sugar mills in Haryana during the current financial year. A spokesman of Haryana State Federation of Co-operative Sugar Mills said that under the scheme sugarcane seeds would be treated free of cost with hot moist air and high quality seeds obtained from various research centres would be distributed among farmers. Nurseries for sugarcane seeds would be given a subsidy ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 500 per acre, he said, adding that interest-free loans would be given to procure seeds. Subsidy would be given for transportation as well. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 15th October '02 Kharif paddy procurement likely to fall Paddy procurement during the current kharif marketing season is likely to decline from last year's level due to low yield on account of drought, Union food minister Sharad Yadav has said. “Procurement of paddy this time is expected to drop marginally compared to the level achieved last year mainly due to low output on account of drought,” he said. Around 26.3 lakh tonnes of paddy have so far been produced during the ‘02-03 marketing season as against the total procurement of 221.3 lakh tonnes a year ago. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 14th October '02 Fall in global wheat output may not boost local trade Contrary to earlier perception of drought in Australia and Canada translating into a greater market share for India in global wheat trade, exports have not picked up and are pegged at 4.7m tonnes this fiscal around the same as last year. “The Australian and Canadian wheat is in a different plane altogether with varieties and grades of a higher level, and is unlikely that their traded volumes will be transferred to India,” vice-president, Adani Exports, Atul Chaturvedi said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 14th October '02 Jute technology mission to take off soon The government is at last going to launch the technology mission for jute. The mission aims at improving raw jute productivity and fibre quality upgrading marketing infrastructure for fibre trade, modernisation of jute mills and increasing market share of diversified jute goods, among others. Union textiles minister Kashiram Rana, said that about Rs 458.34 crore would be required to implement all the sub-plans under the mission. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 12th October '02 Krishi Bhavan seeks Rs 3,560-cr package for drought relief Agriculture minister Ajit Singh said his ministry has forwarded recommendations on drought relief to the Cabinet and a decision is expected shortly on the Rs 3,560 crore package. “Based on the recommendations of the Commission on Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP), my ministry has prepared a note and sent it to the Cabinet for slash in fertilizer prices to the pre-budget levels, waiving interest on loans and cut in ration shop prices for foodgrains,” Mr. Singh said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 11th October '02 Nigeria buys 10,000 tonnes of Indian rice A local trading firm has sold 10,000 tonnes of 10% broken parboiled rice to Nigeria, an official at the company said. The deal was finalised last week at $170 a tonne FOB (free on board). The commodity would be delivered by mid-November. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 11th October '02 Govt. steps in to protect ‘Darjeeling’ brand of teas It has been hard times for prized Darjeeling teas. The government is trying its best to protect the ‘Darjeeling’ brand of teas through the certified trademark (CTM) route. The brand is well protected at home and implementation of the specific Geographical Indications ACT would help prevent its misuse in the overseas markets. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 10th October '02 Singapore buys Indian wheat The state-owned Punjab State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation (Markfed) has sold 25,000 tonnes of wheat to a Singapore-based trading house for export to South East Asia, a company official said. He said the wheat was sold at $90 a tonne for which the deliveries will take place in October and November. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 10th October '02 Rice trade opposes cartel plan Traders have opposed an idea floated by Thailand to cartelise international trade of rice saying it is neither practical nor in the interest of the country. A meeting is currently on in Bangkok to discuss formation of an organization of rice-exporting countries, which can control the commodity’s outflow in the international market and thus leverage control over prices. Official sources said the government would not make any commitment and ‘just watch’ and analyze the stand taken by other exporters like Pakistan, Vietnam, Myanmar and China. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 10th October '02 MSP for sericulturists In a bid to rescue sericulturists from the crisis arising out of a stteep fall in prices of mulberry reeling cocoons and raw silk, the State Government, with the help of the Central Silk Board (CSB), Bangalore, has announced a minimum support price (MSP) scheme. Under the scheme, the MSP will be borne equitably by the State Government and the CSB. The State Government has since released its share of Rs 150 lakhs and the CSB another Rs 150 lakhs. The price incentive is worked out at Rs 10 per kg of cocoons. Courtesy: The Hindu, 7th October '02 Govt. decision to hike MSP criticised The government's decision to provide a drought relief of Rs 20 a quintal on minimum support price (MSP) of paddy sets a bad precedent and does not have a sound economic basis, chairman of the high-level committee on foodgrains Abhijeet Sen said. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 8th October '02 State to open doors, allow textile mills to buy cotton from market The loss-making cotton procurement scheme is all set to lose its monopoly tag from this season beginning November. Under the monopoly cotton procurement scheme, the state government, through its arm, the Maharashtra Cotton Marketing Federation bought all cotton produced in the state irrespective of the market conditions. However, from the forthcoming season any textile mill in the country can enter into fray and purchase cotton. The formal notification about the change is expected soon, senior functionary of the state government told. Courtesy: The Economic Times, 7th October '02 |