Business Secretary suspends 49 export licences to Egypt

By Daniel Hunter

On 21 August 2013, in response to the increasing levels of violence in Egypt, the member states of the European Union agreed to suspend all export licensing for equipment which might be used for internal repression. Following advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has suspended 49 extant licences.

This suspension applies to licences for the Egyptian Army, Air Force and internal security forces or Ministry of the Interior. It applies to applications for new licences as well as extant licences and will continue until further notice.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

The UK position is clear: we will not grant export licences where there is a clear risk that goods might be used for internal repression. The government takes its export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most rigorous arms export control regimes in the world.

We have already taken action to restrict exports to Egypt. As a result of the developing situation in Egypt, we have agreed with EU partners in this instance to go further and suspend all export licences for goods which might be used for internal repression. By acting together, we want to send a clear signal that we condemn all violence in Egypt.

This suspension will be kept under review until such time as conditions in Egypt indicate that it is appropriate to lift these restrictions.

In July 2013, five licences were revoked to Egypt after the government assessed that they were inconsistent with internationally recognised criteria used to assess export licences - specifically concerns about the potential for exports to be used for internal repression. The licences were for small arms/firearms components, armoured vehicle components and communications equipment.

The 49 licences now suspended cover a wide range of equipment, including spares for helicopters and aircraft, specialist software and communications equipment.

Source: www.internationaltrade.co.uk

Spices exports up 22% in FY'13 to 7 lakh tonnes

The nutrition post

NEW DELHI: Spices exports rose by 22 per cent to 6,99,170 tonnes during 2012-13 on account of sharp jump in garlic shipments.

Total exports stood at 5,75,270 tonnes in the previous fiscal, as per the data of Spice Board of India.

In terms of value, spices exports increased by 14 per cent to Rs 11,171.16 crore during last fiscal from Rs 9,783.42 crore in 2011-12.

The exports, in terms of both quantity and value, were higher than the target. The board had fixed the spices exports target at 5,66,000 tonnes and Rs 8,200 crore for 2012-13.

According to the data, there was almost ten-fold jump in the exports of garlic to 24,000 tonnes in 2012-13 from 2,200 tonnes in 2011-12. In terms of value, garlic exports jumped more than four times to Rs 74.49 crore in the current fiscal from Rs 14.15 crore a year ago.

Exports of chili, which is the biggest contributor to the total exports of spices in terms of quantity, rose by 17 per cent to 2,81,000 tonnes during 2012-13 from 2,40,000 tonnes in the previous fiscal.

Besides garlic, fennel and cumin also recorded increase in the exports during 2012-13.

Shipments of fennel increased by 80 per cent to 14,575 tonnes in 2012-13 from 8,100 tonnes a year ago valued at Rs 114.02 crore.

Cumin exports increased by 76 per cent to 79,900 tonnes in 2012-13 from 45,500 tonnes previous year valued at Rs 1093.17 crore.

However, exports of pepper and cardamom registered a decline of 40 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively, in 2012-13 as compared to the previous fiscal.

India is the world's leading spice producer, exporter and consumer.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Irish exports look to meet European demands

A recent event in Poland has highlighted the strength of Irish food and drink products.

The ‘Flavours of Ireland’ dinner in Warsaw, organised by the Irish Chamber of Commerce in Poland, the Ireland Poland Business Association, the Polish Embassy in Dublin, and the Irish Embassy in Warsaw, saw further Irish sellers meet Polish buyers.

“Working from behind a desk in Ireland, you just can’t get close enough to overseas buyers,” said Tony Mackey, managing director of Irish Food and Beverage Exports Ltd, who had made the journey to Warsaw in the hope of meeting Polish supermarket buyers.

Irish producers, such as Irish Food and Beverage Exports Ltd, are supplying goods to companies in Poland, as well as Belgium, Romania, and a select number of ex-pat delicatessens in the United Arab Emirates.

“We’re exporting pallet loads at the moment, but it’s frequent pallet loads to Belgium,” said Mackey, who established the firm in 2009 with two former senior executives with the Irish Dairy Board, Noel O’Meara and John McQueirns.

11/02/2013 By Daniel Hunter |internationaltrade.co.uk|

Indian IT exports to grow by up to 14%

 
Nasscom have said that India's information technology and IT-enabled services sectors are expected to grow 12-14% and clock export revenues of $84-87 billion in the next fiscal year.

“Increase in global technology spending and opportunities created through adoption of disruptive technologies are expected to propel growth," the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said in a statement.

“Nasscom expects the industry to clock export revenues of $84-87 billion maintaining a growth rate of 12-14 per cent.

“The Indian IT-BPM industry has demonstrated resilience and agility in the past year. Technology has today become an integral enabler for growth across all sectors and the industry is continuously evolving and innovating to emerge as a strategic partner to its customers.”

Exports from the industry, which counts the US and Europe as its biggest markets, were estimated to have grown 10.2% to $75.8 billion.

Given the economic uncertainty, Nasscom had predicted growth in the sector to be between 11-14% and later said only the lower end of the target would be met.

12/02/2013 By Daniel Hunter |internationaltrade.co.uk|

Chinese Knockoff Sombrero Drags Colombian Tribe Into Trade Fight

In the Caribbean village of Tuchin, Colombian families who’ve woven straw hats for generations are seeing their livelihoods threatened by competition that shows China’s double-edged impact in Latin America.

Chinese-made imitations of the black-and-white sombrero vueltiao, as the hat is known, sell for half the $20 price of the least expensive originals. In response to plunging sales by artisans who spend up to 15 days cutting, sun-drying and braiding cane leaves to make a single hat, the government is rushing to protect one of the nation’s symbols and ban plastic, machine-made rip-offs.

“The Chinese are stealing our culture like the Spaniards did 500 years ago,” said Eligio Pestana, mayor of Tuchin, where 90 percent of the 34,000 residents, descendants of Zenu Indians, depend on the handicraft trade.

An anti-China backlash is on the rise throughout South America as businesses, from automakers in Brazil to shoemakers in Argentina, demand protection from foreign competition. The trade tension highlights the downside of the continent’s increasing economic ties with the world’s most populous nation, fueled by China’s appetite for commodities from copper to soybeans.

 

“There’s high sensitivity to China throughout the region,” Colombian Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas said in a Jan. 15 interview in Bogota. “While we’re all happy with one side of the story, enjoying the high price for our commodity exports, the economic impact on the currency and manufacturers can be very negative.”

 

Resource Exports

China’s global hunt for natural resources has expanded Latin America’s annual exports to the Asian nation more than 20- fold, to $86 billion in 2011 from $3.9 billion in 2000, according to calculations by the Inter-American Development Bank.

The gains have come at a cost to South American industries. Dollar inflows generated by the export boom have driven the region’s currencies higher, making imports cheaper and leaving local manufacturers hard-pressed to compete.

 

Brazil’s real, Colombia’s peso and Chile’s peso were the three best-performing emerging-market currencies over the past decade, each surging more than 55 percent on demand for the countries’ iron ore, oil and copper. They’ve continued to climb the past two months, as the U.S. Congress averted a fiscal crisis and China’s economy rebounds, renewing calls among policy makers for action to curb dollar inflows.

 

|Bloomberg|

Rice exports to fall this year as rivals sell cheap

NEW DELHI: Rice exports look likely to fall about a quarter this year as it faces one-off cost spikes and rivals such as Vietnam, Pakistan and Myanmar sell at a discount of $35 to $50 a tonne, traders said.

India, the world's biggest rice producer after China, exported a record volume, including aromatic basmati, in the year to March 31, 2012, and may in future resume such volumes, which saw it dislodge Thailand as the world's biggest seller.

But traders are now finding it difficult to repeat that feat, largely because of factors ranging from higher costs to a stronger rupee currency.

"Our exports are getting increasingly expensive and at the same time Pakistan and Vietnam are selling cheaper," Prem Garg, managing director of the Lal Mahal group, a leading New Delhi-based exporter, told Reuters.

Myanmar, a relatively small player, has also stepped up its exports to cash in on falling supplies from India, said another senior official at tha Lal Mahal group, one of India's top three non-basmati rice exporters in 2011/12.

FACTBOX ON WORLD'S TOP 10 RICE EXPORTERS

"Until a few weeks ago, most deals were done at $350 to $500 a tonne but now our prices have gone up to $370 to $550 a tonne, while our rivals are selling at $335 to $500 a tonne," Garg said.

Rich biodiversity helps Indian farmers produce a wide variety of rice, a staple in most Asian nations, reflecting a wide price band for exports.

All three rivals are snatching India's share in its traditional markets of the West Africa and East Africa, said Anil K. Mittal, chairman and managing director at New Delhi-based KRBL LtdBSE -1.31 %, another leading exporter.

Buyers in Africa are buying almost the same variety of rice but more cheaply from Pakistan, Vietnam and Myanmar, said Sanjeev Garg, a trader at CommCorp International, a New Delhi-based trading company.

|economictimes.indiatimes.com|