Manmade textile industry is on the cusp of turnaround with a revival in its demand in the last few weeks following producers’ ability to fix prices of their products in the wake of stabilizing crude oil prices. Trading at $85.10 a barrel in the world market, crude oil price gradually slipped to the level of $49.79 a barrel towards the end of December and gradually picked up again to trade currently at $65.05 a barrel. Most importantly, crude oil price is holding above $60 a barrel since February 1 which allowed synthetic yarn, fabric and textile manufacturers to fix their product prices for long term. Prices of synthetic yarn and fabric moved in tandem with crude oil prices, being the latter the sole raw material of the former. Stabilizing crude oil prices have come as a major relief for manmade fibre and yarn manufacturers that were reeling under pressure since demonetizing of high value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations in November 2016 followed by implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) in July 2017. Before these two revolutionary steps, a large portion of manmade yarn and fabric business used to get transacted in cash which disappeared on their implementations. “With the revival in demand, manmade fibre and yarn business is on a turnaround path. December quarter was highly volatile due to huge volatility in crude oil prices. After that, crude oil prices stabilized which brought stability to manmade fibre and yarn business as well,” said Madhu Sudhan Bhageria, Chairman and Managing Director, Filatex India Ltd, one of the country’s largest manufacturers of manmade fibre and yarn. The revival in demand also percolated to the share price movement of manmade fibre and yarn manufacturers which rose upto 10 per cent in the last two weeks. Indian manmade fibre and yarn manufacturers are betting big to grab the market share of the China, the world’s largest producer of these products, due to rising labour cost. Industry sources said that the labour cost in China has risen to $1100 per month as compared to $200 per month in India. Sensing this opportunity, however, leading manmade fibre and yarn players have chalked out massive investment plans to expand their capacity and grab large share in the world market. Filatex India, for example, has envisaged Rs 275 crore expansion plan to raise their production capacity of yarn and power to reduce its production cost and improve its EBIDTA margins for this year. According to Sanjay Jain, Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) and managing director of TT brand garments, globally the fibre consumption is dominated by manmade fibres having 70 per cent of share in total fibre consumption while natural fibres constitute only 30 per cent. “Contrary to the global trend, fibre consumption in India is skewed towards natural fibres, especially cotton. The growth of cotton is limited owing to limited agricultural land availability and price volatility. Hence, in order to achieve the desired growth target of $300 billion market by 2025 it has become important for India to focus on manmade textiles along with cotton textiles,” he added. “The downstream industries in the manmade fibre textile value chain – spinning and weaving, which is the largest employment generator in the entire value chain are facing acute stress due to high prices of domestic staple fibre relative to what our competitors get in other countries. This affects the export competitiveness of the domestic downstream MMF textile industry and also makes the industry venerable to imports of value added MMF products,” said Rakesh Mehra, a senior industry official. Anti-dumping duties in the beginning of the textile manufacturing chain hurt the down-stream industry. Presently, anti-dumping duty on purified terephthalic (PTA) is Rs 4 - 6 per kg and on VSF (Viscose Staple Fibre) at Rs 12 per kg. India has huge and efficient capacities in the manufacturing of polyester staple fibre and also viscose staple fibre. Rising import due to the free trade agreement (FTA) signed by the government, however, needs to be curbed, Jain said.
Source: Business Standard
Rejecting US claims of imposing "tremendously high" tariffs, India Tuesday said its import duties are not high and are within the norms of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "We do not agree with that at all. Our tariffs (import duties) are very consistent with the bound rates that we are entitled to in the WTO," Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan told reporters here. "Our tariffs are very comparable to more liberal developing economies and some developed economies," he added. He said India's tariffs are within its bound rates under the WTO commitments, and on the average are well below those rates. Duties which are imposed on imported goods are called applied rates and the extent to which a country can increase those duties are known as bound rates. India's trade weighted average tariffs are 7.6 per cent, which is comparable with the most open developing economies, and some developed economies. The commerce ministry, in a statement, said on developmental considerations, there may be a few tariff peaks, which is true for almost all economies. US President Donald Trump had claimed that India is a "tariff king" and imposes "tremendously high" tariffs on American products like Harley Davidson motorcycles. The bilateral trade has increased to USD 74.5 billion in 2017-18 from USD 64.5 billion in 2016-17. India has a trade surplus with the US. America has also raised this issue. The ministry also said due to various initiatives resulting in enhanced purchase of US goods like oil and natural gas and coal, the US trade deficit with India has substantially reduced in 2017 and 2018. "The reduction is estimated to be over USD 4 billion in 2018, with further reduction expected in future years on account of factors like the growing demand for energy and civilian aircraft in India," it said. This reduction, it added, has happened in the face of a rising overall US trade deficit, including with some other major economies. "India is also a thriving market for US services and e-commerce companies like Amazon, Uber, Google and Facebook with billions of dollars of revenue," it said.
Source: Business Standard
The US has decided to withdraw duty benefits on $5.6 billion worth of exports from India by May this year, blaming the trade barriers created by the Indian government, after negotiations for a trade package fell through.The GSP programme allows duty-free entry of 1,784 products from India into the US, benefitting exporters of textiles, engineering, gems and jewellery and chemical products. "India has implemented a wide array of trade barriers that create serious negative effects on United States commerce. Despite intensive engagement, India has failed to take the necessary steps to meet the GSP criterion," the office of the United States Trade Representative said in a statement late on Monday. US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross recently raised concerns regarding new trade barriers created by India, hinting at the stringent e-commerce rules that affected US companies such as Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. In a hurriedly called press briefing, India's Commerce secretary Anup Wadhawan said disproportionate demands from the US led to the collapse of talks even though India was ready for greater market access in agricultural products to the US. In April last year, the USTR announced that it was reviewing the GSP eligibility of India, after the US dairy industry and the US medical devices industry requested a review of India’s GSP benefits, given India’s alleged trade barriers affecting US exports in these sectors. Total US imports under GSP in 2017 was $21.2 billion, of which India was the biggest beneficiary with $5.6 billion, followed by Thailand ($4.2 billion) and Brazil ($2.5 billion).
Source: Live Mint
There is a trade conflict brewing between India and the US. But it did not seem to matter for India’s financial markets; both the rupee and the stock markets rallied on Tuesday. Of course, the financial markets aren’t always the best barometer to assess the impact of policy decisions, especially those with long-term implications. The Indian government, too, has played down the impact of the US move to withdraw duty benefits on Indian products under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheme. But experts disagreed. “According to some media reports, the government is saying there will be a minimal impact of about $190 million. It looks like they are downplaying the issue. We don’t know the basis of this calculation. Since the US is a key export market for India, any impact is sure to have adverse implications, especially on small firms," said Biswajit Dhar, professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi (JNU). To be sure, the macro impact of this development cannot be ignored. At a time when India’s export growth remains sluggish, and trade deficit remains a concern, any impact on exports can only worsen the scenario.It could also translate into loss of employment, since the predominant share of exports under the GSP scheme is from small and medium enterprises, which are typically labour-intensive. An Indian government official had said at a US government hearing that “the predominant share of GSP beneficiary items exported from India are intermediaries and semi-manufactured goods".As far as the impact on overall exports go, it may be fair to conclude that the loss may not be very high. After all, total exports of around $5.6 billion under the GSP scheme amounted to around 12% of total exports to the US in 2017, and a far smaller proportion compared to India’s total exports. But even if there is a $1-2 billion impact as a result of the withdrawal of GSP scheme, the eventual impact on the country’s balance of payments will be greater, said the head of research at a multinational brokerage firm, requesting anonymity. The gap would need to be made up through higher capital flows, increasing other exports or by reducing imports, none of which can be taken as a given. As the chart above shows, India’s trade relations with the UShave only grown in size over the years. But recent developments could mean a reversal in trend. The withdrawal of the GSP scheme for Indian companies comes on the back of far greater restrictions on visa issuances for Indian firms under the Donald Trump administration. While Indian IT companies have adapted by increasing local hiring, this comes at the cost of lower margins. “Visa issuances are at about a fifth of what they used to be a few years ago," said an analyst at a multinational brokerage firm. Coming back to the trade spat, it must be noted that India had challenged a similar move by the European Union (EU). “In 2002, EU rewrote their GSP preferences that discriminated against India. One of the sectors that got severely hit was textiles and clothing. India had then approached the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO (World Trade Organization) contesting the case of discrimination against us, which was a violation of GSP rules. And considering the slowdown in the global economy, it will be challenging for Indian exporters to compensate for the potential losses in the US," added Dhar. India has had a part to play in the strained trade relations as well, point out analysts, with its new restrictions in the e-commerce space, which have curtailed activities of US companies such as Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Indeed, the US review of GSP preferences for India was conducted after complaints by a body of US dairy product makers and a medical devices manufacturer, both of whom said that the country hasn’t reciprocated, and has instead created barriers for entry in these segments. But the blanket removal of the GSP scheme for India means that about 1,900 products exported by the country to the US will be hit. “Popular items that India exports to the US under the GSP programme includes many intermediary products such as mechanical spare parts, ferro alloys, food products, gems and jewellery, textile products, electronic products like motors, wires etc.," said Rahul Khurana, associate partner at Economic Laws Practice, a law firm. Interestingly, one of the reasons the financial markets are doing well lately is the prospect of an end to the US-China trade war. While that would be an event to celebrate, the trade tension between the US and India clearly does not bode well.
Source: The Live Mint
Union Textiles Minister, Smriti Zubin Irani, inaugurated the renovated Handloom Haat in New Delhi on Tuesday. She also launched three projects of NIFT - VisionNXT – Trend Forecasting Initiative, Indian Textiles and Craft Repository and Design Innovation and Incubation. The Haat at Janpath in New Delhi has been set up by Ministry of Textiles to provide marketing opportunities to authentic handloom products from various States, PSUs and cooperative societies. Its main objective is to provide infrastructure support to handloom agencies to augment their sales of handloom products and to showcase the exquisite variety of handloom products produced all over the country. Textiles Minister also released a booklet - World Handmade Textile Biennales on this occasion. Speaking on this occasion, Smriti Zubin Irani said that this is an effort to recreate history and revive the history of art. She said the NIFT will accomplish their job through artificial intelligence. The Textiles Minister further said that the virtual museum will not only help industry and research scholars but also carry forward the knowledge to the next generation. MoS Textiles, Ajay Tamta, also spoke on this occasion. Project related to trend innovation lab ‘VisionNxt’ initiativebeing set up by NIFT in the building will create an indigenous fashion forecasting service that endeavours to design seasonal directions for our country. The trend forecasting service would be aligned to our national and sub-national socio-cultural constructs and market requirements. The proposed service is based on the premise that fashion is a dynamic industry, depending on seasonal trends and forecast to predict its future direction. It will help handloom sector in production of handloom products as per market requirement in terms of trends, design and colour forecast. The project of Indian Textiles and Craft Repository Initiative of NIFT is supported by the DC Handlooms and the DC Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles. The body of textile and craft knowledge generated through the Craft Cluster Initiative will be channelled into a national knowledge portal titled Indian Textile & Craft Repository. This repository will also house the virtual registers of the textiles and crafts resources, which are available in the Weaver Service Centres, the Crafts Museums, similar institutions and private collections. The repository will develop a virtual museum of textiles, and textile crafts, a designer archive, indigenous case studies, and also act as aggregator of online information on related research. Virtual museum will be set up having digitised resource of traditional archived pieces from museums, resource centres, weavers’ service centres. It will also have contemporary pieces and collections from designers, fashion archives. This will help in easy sourcing of designs. Design Innovation and Incubation (DII) is intended to support young entrepreneurs, artisans, start-ups, NIFT alumni and students.The DII would also facilitate collaborations relevant for business development. The target beneficiaries include NIFT alumni and students who would like to start entrepreneurial ventures as well as candidates who have not been a part of NIFT but wish to take up NIFT incubation support.
Source: India Blooms
Our Coimbatore Bureau adds: While withdrawal of duty benefit on Indian products under GSP (Generalised System of Preference) by the US will not have a big impact on the ready-made garment (RMG) category, it will erode the trade, said Vice-Chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, A Sakthivel. The Council plans to take up the issue with the Ministry of Commerce to continue to provide the US GSP benefits to India, Sakthivel said adding that the trade would be impacted to the extent of $17 million as the product cost for the buyer will increase by 7 per cent, given that China is the main competitor in these categories. With the loss of trade, proportionate loss of employment cannot be ruled out as these products are manufactured by SMEs. He further explained that there were 15 products under HSN 61 and 62 in RMG category, and these contributed to imports worth $17.97 million from India. The MFN tariff on the 15 products varied from 0.86 per cent to 14.60 per cent, on which India got duty access with 100 per cent Margin of Preference. (It may be noted that these 15 products contribute to less than 0.5 per cent of India’s apparel exports. On the basis of current trade with the US, AEPC has figured that 11 products would have negligible impact on the country’s apparel exports to the US. The impact would be high on women and girls dresses (not knitted or crocheted), containing 70 per cent or more by weight of silk or silk waste. “This therefore should be retained,” the AEPC Vice Chairman said, citing some more products such as gloves, mittens for sports use (including ski and snow mobile gloves) of synthetic fibre, shawls, scarves, mufflers, mantillas, veils - containing 70 per cent or more of silk or silk waste, where the impact could be moderate and hence be considered to retain.
Source: The Hindu Businessline
Maharashtra’s new Industrial Policy aims to promote a walk-to-work culture to enhance productivity for the urban working class. The Industrial Policy 2019, approved by State Cabinet on Tuesday promises additional floor space index (FSI) to industries opting to construct residential complexes for the workforce on the same land, thereby making it easy to walk to work. Unveiled by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray days before the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha polls kicks in, the policy comes into effect from April 1. It aims to attract investments of over ₹10 lakh crore and creating around 40 lakh jobs by 2023-24, Minister for Industries and Mining Subhash Desai said while reiterating the goal to turn Maharastra into a trillion dollar (₹1 lakh crore) economy. “The focus of this policy is creation of jobs, it is not the capital but the prospect and promise of 40 lakh jobs that will be the success story. Maharashtra is where you can have both consumption and growth, while the massive plus factor is the ease of doing business growth, which draws industries,” said Piruz Khambatta, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Western Region. The policy offers special incentives for underdeveloped areas — Vidarbha, Marathwada and Naxal-affected zones. It gives special emphasis to emerging technologies and other vital ‘thrust areas’. “The aim of the policy is to create a conducive business environment while promoting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through public funding, fiscal incentives, cluster promotions and institutional support. During the last four years, Maharashtra’s growth has been spectacular. I want to tell investors to come invest in Maharashtra and that it will give you most returns in the future,” Mr. Desai said. The thrust areas the policy identifies are defence and aerospace, bio-tech, medical equipments, information technology, textile machinery and electric vehicles. The policy also offers incentives for futuristic technologies like Industries 4.0 and startups. “The objective is to give priority in land development to MSMEs, women entrepreneurs and ST/SC entrepreneurs,” the new policy documents stated. Among the key highlights of the policy are promotions of MSMEs, new Chief Minister Employment Programme, incentive for large and mega projects, creation of land bank, a critical infrastructure fund of ₹1,000 crore, creation of commerce and trade councils, and additional incentives for agro and food processing industries.
Source: The Hindu
On February 21, the US and China resumed high-level talks in Washington DC to resolve the long-pending frictions in bilateral trade. The message from US President Donald Trump to China was loud and clear: if the matter was not resolved by March 2, the US would impose taxes on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The very next day, a triumphant Trump announced, “We are making a lot of progress, I think there is a very good chance that a deal can be made.” The magnitude of the trade war between China and the US could be appreciated from the following figures: in the first 11 months of 2018, exports from the US to China were only $111.16 billion while Chinese exports to the US amounted to $493.49 billion. Trump’s prescription to resolve the trade war is simple: China should restrict its exports to the US to the same level as its imports from the US. Earlier, Trump had imposed tariffs on Chinese goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars to which China retaliated by imposing tariffs on $110 billion of imports from the US, soya beans in particular.
Mounting pressure
In fact, none of the former Presidents — from George HW Bush and Bill Clinton to George W Bush and Barack Obama — was able to resolve the matter. During his election campaign, Trump had promised to fix “China’s long-time abuse of the broken international system and unfair practices.” Trump had even branded China as “the grand champion of currency manipulation.” In August 2017, the US instituted a formal investigation into attacks on its intellectual property. For the US alone, the losses amounted to up to $600 billion a year. At the same time, China had a trade surplus of $323 billion. In a nutshell, the US-China trade war is focussed on intellectual property in China, especially technology. Trump has offered a three-point solution to China: protection of intellectual property; outlawing of forced technology; and cessation of illegal, market-distorting industry subsidies. While China has refuted all charges, none can deny that several years of intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers were responsible for the rapid economic and industrial development of China. In all likelihood, the ongoing trade talks will culminate in a deal between the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump next month at Florida. Reduction of bilateral trade surplus between China and the US is bound to be one of the key elements of the proposed settlement. Once the deal comes through, there is bound to be a substantial reduction of exports from China to the US from the current $493 billion; Trump will like to peg it at $110 billion. Such a reduction in imports from China has to be made good by imports from other countries. Some analysts suggest that India’s exports to the US market will increase when China loses out. Apart from manufactured goods, the US also imports food-related items on a very large scale from China. The US curbs on these Chinese items should throw up a huge opportunity for Indian exporters. But it is not going to be a cake walk. The Commerce Ministry has to act swiftly and play a lead role. All the export houses have to work overtime to explore every possibility to promote Indian exports to the US, which thus far have been muted mainly on account unfair trade practices and currency manipulation by China.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Chinese investments in electronics, home-appliance, automobile and tech sectors are rising like never before. It’s been a huge coup for Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Chinese firm TCL, which is looking to expand its presence in the Indian market hugely, has selected Naidu’s showpiece electronics hub at Tirupati to make a ₹2,200-crore investment in two plants that will turn out mobile phones and television screens. TCL grew 120 per cent in the last year and has major plans for the Indian market. Cut to Delhi where Taiwanese company KYMCO has just picked up an undisclosed stake in an ambitious electric two-wheeler start-up Twenty Two Motors. KYMCO brings with it a new, lightweight 5 kg battery that can be swapped quickly. Twenty Two is now looking at setting up charging infrastructure at 2-km intervals in six Indian cities where vehicle-owners can stop and change these lightweight batteries. Strictly speaking, KYMCO isn’t a Chinese company but the investment in India has come from its Hangzhou-based fund. Says Parveen Kharb, Twenty Two’s co-founder: “India’s the fastest-growing market in the world for two-wheelers so they saw it as a very attractive place to be.”
Muscling their way
The Chinese have been muscling their way into the Indian business arena for some time. But now the scale of the invasion is changing. Already India’s largest trading partner, China’s now a fast-growing source of foreign direct investment. The Chinese are dominating industries like mobile phones and are about to grab the lion’s share of the television and home-appliances industries. These are companies like Haier, TCL and Midea Group, which are Chinese but sell Toshiba-branded products, drawn by the fact India is the last major market where the population is still growing and vast swathes of consumers haven’t got basics like smartphones, fridges and kitchen ranges. Haier is investing over ₹3,000 crore to build a new plant in Greater Noida that will make two million refrigerators and a million each of washing machines, air-conditioners and televisions. Midea, too, announced in November it’s investing some ₹1,300 crore to make air-conditioners in partnership with Carrier and a range of other household appliances. Earlier, in 2017, the Midea Group invested ₹800 crore in a new plant in Pune. In considering these huge numbers, here’s something more to ponder: this may only be the first wave of the Chinese invasion of Indian industry. Over the last one year, China’s top businesses have seen their well-laid plans being tossed for a six by Donald Trump’s maverick anti-trade moves. The jarring jolts have forced a number of them to relook their blueprints for the future. Many are convinced even if the trade war ends, the Western world — both the US and Europe — will still be determined to put roadblocks in their way. Says Santosh Pai, Partner, Link Legal India Law Services which helps Chinese investors enter India’s market: “Companies sitting on the fence said we have to move quickly. As the trade war dragged on, Chinese companies which hadn’t considered India decided to start factories here.” Pai is also a member of CII’s core group on China. The new Chinese interest in India is visible in places like Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, where two Chinese industrial products companies have recently signed to open plants. Last month, a 20-member Chinese delegation from electronics firms visited Sri City to check out the possibility of investing there. Also, the township is in contact with 10-15 major Chinese conglomerates that are showing interest in making large investments. One player already entrenched in the Indian market is Xiaomi, which after slightly less than five years here, boasts revenues of ₹23,000 crore and is the leader in mobile phones with a 29 per cent market-share. Xiaomi's revenue grew by around 150 per cent last year and it has also captured a large share of the television industry by slashing prices on what it says are quality products. Now, Xiaomi has entered multiple new segments like powerbanks in which it’s again the market leader. Other newer products include a range of smart devices, including air-purifiers, soundbars for televisions and accessories that connect to smartphones like bluetooth headphones.
Overcoming reservations
Indians, in earlier years, had reservations about Chinese brands but that seems to have been overcome by the new wave of products from companies like Xiaomi, TCL and Haier. In the auto industry, though, it’s a different story. Companies like Shanghai-based SAIC Motor are using the MG (Morris Garage) badge to overcome customer reservations. The company’s ads stress the MG name and its vintage British heritage. Similarly, the company that makes Volvo vehicles that sell in India is owned by Hangzhou-based Zhejiang Geely. Again, the company globally stresses its original Swedish parentage. One automobile company that’s happy to come to India using its own distinctly Chinese brand name is bus company BYD Auto Industry, the world’s largest electric vehicle company in partnership with a local company. It has already won contracts in several cities for its electric buses. Crucially, but unsurprisingly, the three automobile companies have brought also a large clutch of Chinese automobile component companies. Still, coming into India under cover of a Swedish or Japanese brand name, is a ploy that many Chinese companies are using successfully. Take a look at Miniso, a Chinese retail chain that uses the name of a Japanese retailer that it bought some years ago. Miniso is in the fast-track when it comes to growth and has established its popularity with youngsters who are attracted by its products that offer a combination of good quality at affordable prices. When it comes to manufacturing, the Chinese may still have reservations about inefficiencies of the Indian market. But tech companies have no such issues. It’s reckoned Chinese tech companies and funds have taken big bets and invested about $3 billion in India in 2018.
There are highly publicised investments like Alibaba’s several round of financing Paytm. Similarly, travel portal C-Trip took a key stake in MakeMyTrip. More recently, Alicloud is building its second cloud-storage centre in India. At a different level, ShareChat has large investments from Xiaomi Singapore and Shunwei Capital. In fact, the Chinese have invested in almost every large Indian tech start-up, including big names like Zomato and Swiggy. And, in the last one year, 44 Chinese apps have made it to the top 100 most downloaded apps in the country. China’s long been cast as the “factory of the world.” But it seems as Western markets’ appeal diminishes, India — despite the traditional friction between the neighbours — is looking like an ever-smarter investment option to Chinese players. Call it win-win.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
India's apparel exports estimated to de-grow by 4-5% in FY2019
Going forward, steps taken by the Government of India to address the challenges will remain crucial for a broad-based recovery across the sector. India’s apparel exports are estimated to degrow by 4-5% in FY2019, following a similar de-growth of 4% in FY 2018 and modest growth rates of 1% and 3% in FY2016 and FY2017 respectively, says an ICRA NSE -1.00 % report. While a reversal in trend has been witnessed in the recent months with a 14% Y-o-Y growth in India’s apparel exports in Q3 FY2019, the growth is overstated considering a sharp decline reported during Q3 FY2018, amid downward revision in export incentives under the GST regime. As a result, India’s apparel exports in Q3 FY2019 remained lower than the average quarterly exports during the past five years. Having said that, ICRA expects the trend to have bottomed out and recovery to set in with internal challenges and abrupt pressures subsiding, though the pace of recovery is likely to remain muted considering the challenging environment. Commenting on the subdued industry trend, Mr. Jayanta Roy, Senior Vice-President and Group Head, ICRA, says, “The decline in India’s apparel exports in FY2019 so far has been primarily driven by a sharp inexplicable decline witnessed in shipments to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from July 2017 onwards. Yet, the trend otherwise also has not been encouraging. If the trade with UAE is excluded, India’s apparel exports stood flat (vis-à-vis a 7% decline in India’s overall apparel exports) in 10M FY2019. As this weakness coincides with a time when the global apparel trade has shown signs of positive momentum, it remains a cause of concern.” As for the global apparel trade, the same expanded for the second consecutive year in CY2018 (refers to Calendar Year) with a Y-o-Y growth of ~3%, following a 2% growth in CY2017 in US$ terms and contractions reported earlier in CY2015 and CY2016. The positive trend during the last two years has been led by the strong recovery in apparel imports by the European Union (EU), which accounts for almost two-fifth of the global apparel trade (including the trade within EU) and reported a growth of 5.8% in CY2018. Unlike the EU, apparel imports by the United States of America (US) remain muted 2% growth in CY2018, though the trend has improved during the past two years. As per ICRA note, India continues to experience headwinds in the form of intense competitive pressures from nations having a cost advantage over India, which seem to be constraining the overall momentum of the apparel export sector of India. “While China – the world’s largest apparel manufacturer and exporter, continues to shed market share in the global trade, India has not been able to capitalise on the opportunity. Instead, a large chunk has been garnered by Bangladesh and Vietnam, the second and the third largest apparel exporting nations globally. While Bangladesh has been the key beneficiary in the EU, Vietnam has maintained growth in its stronghold market of the US.”, adds Roy.
Source: Economic Times
VisionNxt initiative to help handloom sector make products as per market requirement: Textiles Minister New Delhi: Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani Tuesday launched three projects of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) including VisionNXT, a trend forecasting initiative. The VisionNxt initiative will create an indigenous fashion forecasting service which endeavours to design seasonal directions for the country, the minister said here. The proposed service is based on the premise that fashion is a dynamic industry which depends on seasonal trends and forecast for future course of action."It will help handloom sector in production of handloom products as per the market requirement in terms of trends, design and colour forecast," she added. The other two projects are -- Indian textiles and craft repository and Design Innovation and Incubation (DII). The repository will develop a virtual museum of textiles, and textile crafts, a designer archive, indigenous case studies, and also act as an aggregator of online information on related research. Virtual museum will have digitised resource of traditional archived pieces from museums, resource centres, weavers' service centres. Similarly, DII is intended to support young entrepreneurs, artisans, start-ups, NIFT alumni and students. It would also facilitate collaborations relevant for business development. It has been decided to set up incubation facilities (regional incubators) in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru campuses of NIFT. The minister also inaugurated a renovated Handloom Haat here.
Source: Economic Times
The Government in the next budget of 2018-19 extended the reduced tax rate of 25 per cent to companies with turnover of up to Rs 250 crore. The Government has promised to lower corporate tax rate to 25 per cent for all companies once Goods and Services Tax (GST) mop-up improves, FICCI President Sandip Somany said Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after meeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Somany said the discussions revolved around a wide range of issues, including taxation, job creation and boosting industrial output. “He (Jaitley) has promised that as the revenue collections from GST go up over a period of time, he will rationalise the taxes for the rest of the corporate sector over the next few years,” Somany said. In 2015-16 budget, the Government had announced that the corporate tax rate would be gradually lowered to 25 per cent from 30 per cent over the next four years and exemptions available to companies would be phased out. In the budget 2017, the Government had reduced corporate tax rate to 25 per cent for companies whose turnover was less than Rs 50 crore in financial year 2015-16. This benefitted 96 per cent of the total companies filing tax returns. The Government in the next budget of 2018-19 extended the reduced tax rate of 25 per cent to companies with turnover of up to Rs 250 crore, a move which benefited the micro, small and medium enterprises. After this, out of about 7 lakh companies filing returns, about 7,000 companies which file returns of income and whose turnover is above Rs 250 crores remains in 30 per cent slab. With regard to United States (US) decision to withdraw duty benefits on Indian products under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme, Somany said it will make Indian industry less competitive. “I’m sure the Government will take appropriate action and there will be dialogue between the two governments to make sure that this is not withdrawn in case of India,” Somany added. US President Donald Trump has said he intends to end the preferential trade status granted to India and Turkey, asserting that New Delhi has failed to assure America of “equitable and reasonable” access to its markets, an announcement that could be seen as a major setback to bilateral trade ties.
Source: Business Standard
|
Item |
Price |
Unit |
Fluctuation |
Date |
|
PSF |
1313.92 |
USD/Ton |
2.09% |
3/5/2019 |
|
VSF |
1991.02 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
ASF |
2447.39 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
Polyester POY |
1245.32 |
USD/Ton |
1.15% |
3/5/2019 |
|
Nylon FDY |
2893.32 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
40D Spandex |
4727.74 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
Nylon POY |
1454.12 |
USD/Ton |
0.52% |
3/5/2019 |
|
Acrylic Top 3D |
3131.94 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
Polyester FDY |
5637.49 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
Nylon DTY |
1536.14 |
USD/Ton |
0.49% |
3/5/2019 |
|
Viscose Long Filament |
2684.52 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
Polyester DTY |
2595.04 |
USD/Ton |
1.75% |
3/5/2019 |
|
30S Spun Rayon Yarn |
2744.18 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
32S Polyester Yarn |
2020.85 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
45S T/C Yarn |
2878.40 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
40S Rayon Yarn |
2162.53 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
T/R Yarn 65/35 32S |
2550.29 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
45S Polyester Yarn |
3042.46 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
T/C Yarn 65/35 32S |
2535.38 |
USD/Ton |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
10S Denim Fabric |
1.37 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
32S Twill Fabric |
0.83 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
40S Combed Poplin |
1.12 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
30S Rayon Fabric |
0.66 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
|
45S T/C Fabric |
0.71 |
USD/Meter |
0% |
3/5/2019 |
Source: Global Textiles
Note: The above prices are Chinese Price (1 CNY = 0.14914 USD dtd. 05/03/2019). The prices given above are as quoted from Global Textiles.com. SRTEPC is not responsible for the correctness of the same.
In response to Washington's move to ‘graduate' Turkey from the generalized preferential system program for trade, Ankara drew attention to the contradictory nature of the decision, pointing to the recent mutual resolution to raise bilateral trade to $75 billion An increase of Turkey-U.S. trade volume, currently standing close to $21 billion, to $75 billion has been one of the most discussed topics in the recent phone calls between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump. In line with that target, Turkish and American businesspeople have already begun working on plans for a free trade agreement. While efforts continue in trying to accomplish this trade goal, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced on Monday that President Trump intends to terminate Turkey's designation as a beneficiary developing country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) along with India, citing the countries' economically developed status. "An increase in Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, declining poverty rates and export diversification, by trading partner and by sector, are evidence of Turkey's higher level of economic development," the statement said. Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan criticized the move on her official Twitter account and highlighted that removal of Turkey from the GSP program is contradictory to the target of $75 billion in bilateral trade, a mutually agreed goal. "We still would like to pursue our target of increasing our bilateral trade with the U.S. who we see as our strategic partner, without losing any momentum," she said and added, "This decision will also create repercussions for small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] in the U.S." In August 2018 the U.S. started the process of reviewing Turkey's beneficiary status in the GSP program, following Turkey's decision to increase tariffs on some U.S.-made products. In August 2018 the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office said the review could affect $1.66 billion worth of Turkish imports into the U.S. that benefited from the GSP program last year. Removing Turkey from the program would not take effect for at least 60 days after notifications to Congress and the Turkish government, and it will be enacted by a presidential proclamation, the USTR said. Trump notified Congress in a letter on Monday. Trade Minister Pekcan explained that U.S. imports from Turkey within the framework of the GSP program in the period of January-November 2018 totaled $1.74 billion, accounting for 8.2 percent of the U.S.' total GSP imports recorded at $20.9 billion. The leading GSP import categories were vehicles and vehicle parts, jewelry and precious metals, and stone articles, the website said. Minister Pekcan also stressed that the $1.74 billion GSP exports constitute only 19 percent of Turkey's total exports to the U.S., recorded nearly at $9 billion last year. The "graduation" of Turkey from the program – as the office of the U.S. Trade Representative put it – means that Turkish exporters will have to pay an extra $63 million in import tariffs. "These extra tariffs will also negatively impact American SMEs, as much as they will affect Turkish exporters, because the quality of the Turkish products and their competitive prices are globally recognized. We will continue to work raising exports to the U.S." Pekcan said.
Source: Daily Sabah
The European Union (EU) has decided to formulate and enact a new set of controls to better scrutinise direct investments coming into the bloc from third countries on the grounds of security or public order, the EU council said in a statement, here on Tuesday. This was the first time the EU had decided to furnish itself with a comprehensive set of rules, while its major trading partners had already similar controls in place, the council added, reported Efe news. "The new rules on screening of investments will ensure that openness goes hand in hand with sensible protection of our strategic assets," said Stefan-Radu Oprea, Minister for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship of Romania and President of the council. The council said regulations would establish a solid and stable framework for the screening of foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the EU. Internal negotiations on the subject were concluded on November 20, 2018. The framework for rules should allow for coordinated methods of being able to scrutinise inward investment at a community level. The objective of all this was to be able to avoid investments from countries, such as China, which could possibly pose a threat to security or public order within the community, one of the most open in the world, the statement said. Part of the new screening device would include a cooperation mechanism where member states and the commission would be able to exchange information and raise specific concerns over investments. Member states will nevertheless retain the ability to review and potentially bar FDI on security and public order grounds. The decision to set up and maintain national screening mechanisms will also remain in the hands of individual member states, the statement said. The commission will be authorised to issue opinions in cases concerning several member states, or when investments could affect a project or program of interest to the EU as a whole, such as Horizon 2020 or Galileo. The new regulations are set to be published on March 21, the council said and added they would come into force 20 days later. "The EU is and will remain one of the world's most open places to invest in," Oprea said.
Source: Business Standard
GDP will grow 0.19pc more and exports will rise by an additional $400m if trade war escalates
Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 0.19 percent more within the next one or two years if the US-China trade war escalates further, the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) chief economist said on Monday. Moreover, the country will be able to make exports of an additional $400 million, said Yasuyuki Sawada. Bangladesh will receive a lot of work orders, mainly shifted from China—the largest apparel supplier worldwide—because of the tariff war, he said. Four countries will mainly benefit from the shifting of work orders and foreign direct investment due to the trade war -- Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Bangladesh, said Sawada. He was presenting a keynote at a seminar on “Impact of emerging international trade relations on Bangladesh” at the Radisson hotel in Dhaka. Economists from home and abroad, ADB high-ups and researchers attended the seminar which had Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi as the chief guest. “Garment, textile, IT and agricultural products seem to be exported more due to the trade war...Gains from trade redirection are not automatic or assured. There is a need to compete with others,” he said. Also a higher domestic demand propelled Bangladesh's miraculous and extremely robust economic growth, he said. At the end of the year, the GDP growth would hit 7.5 percent, as was predicted in the first six months of this year, the economist said. However, the prediction is a little bit lower than the 7.9 percent that the country experienced last year. The US was supposed to implement its decision of imposing tariff rates ranging from 10 to 25 percent on $200 billion-worth Chinese goods from March 1. “We do not know whether the US is going to impose 10 to 25 percent tariff rates on another $200 billion or whether is it going for a withdrawal,” said Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). “It depends on various scenarios,” he said while discussing on Sawada's presentation. The implications might worsen if the trade war escalates, Rahman said. The US has been making the multilateral trading system of World Trade Organisation almost dysfunctional, the CPD economist said. The WTO would have been the best trade guard for Bangladesh as this organisation practises the rule-based trading system, he said. Rahman warned to be vigilant of the continuation of trade privileges when the United Kingdom comes out of the European bloc as England is not only Bangladesh's third largest export destination but also the hub for Bangladesh to reach other European countries. Both the European Union and the United Kingdom promised to continue providing the generalised system of preferences facility after Bangladesh graduated in status from least developed to developing country, he said. However, it is still a matter of concern how the “Rules of Origin” will be determined, Rahman said. Bangladesh needs more entrepreneurs for new job creation and to reduce income inequality as the country is now on a development trajectory, he added. “Investing in good infrastructure, providing good logistics and easy facilitation can help develop an efficient global value chain, and thereby attract global companies to move their production centres to Bangladesh,” said Manmohan Parkash, country director of ADB's Bangladesh office. “Bangladesh is benefitting from the trade war as we are receiving more work orders over the last few months,” said Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi. Mashiur Rahman, economic affairs adviser to the prime minister, said 35 percent of Vietnam's exports were machinery while garments attributed to only about 6 to 7 percent.
The drivers were foreign direct investment with foreign management and foreign expertise, the adviser said.
Source: The Daily Sabah
The Philippine Government must guarantee much-needed tax incentives for investors who are willing to risk capital in revival efforts if it wants to revive the domestic apparel industry, it, according to the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP), which said revival efforts will only succeed if existing tax perks are retained. Such perks include the 5-per cent tax on gross income paid by economic zone firms in lieu of all local and national taxes. Incentives will be overhauled under the proposed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities bill, also known as the Trabaho bill, FOBAP president Robert M Young said. The Trabaho bill will gradually reduce corporate income tax to 20 per cent in 2029 from 30 per cent now and rationalize incentives. The measure is awaiting the approval of senators, who are currently on a break for the mid-term polls in May. The country’s garments industry will benefit if the government grant subsidies for power and labour, a report in a business daily in the country quoted FOBAP director Ding Buendia as saying. He said a couple of Chinese firms are now looking into setting up factories here, while some are planning to partner with Philippine companies. The government has to revitalize the garments industry if it wants to trim the country’s trade gap and penetrate more markets, particularly in its Southeast Asian neighbourhood, Young added.
Source: Fibre2Fashion
Turkmenistan has foreign trade relations with 107 countries, the main of which are China, Italy, Turkey, the UAE and Afghanistan, Trend reports with reference to the Watan newspaper. In 2018, exports of Turkmenistan increased by almost 50 percent compared to 2017. At the same time, the value of exports of cement produced in Turkmenistan grew 20.2 times, carpets and rugs - 5.5 times, products of vegetables and fruits processing - 3.5 times, wool - 36.1 percent, textile materials – 22.9 percent, mineral fertilizers - 18.1 percent. In 2018, Turkmenistan began to export chicken eggs. During the analyzed period, 79.4 million eggs worth more than $3.8 million were delivered to foreign markets. The tendency of growth of vegetables export remained. Thus, 9,600 tons of vegetables worth $9.7 million were exported. The main share in this group was held by tomatoes (89.4 percent). In addition, new goods appeared in the export structure of Turkmenistan in 2018. Thus, the export value of rebar amounted to more than $1.4 million, glass and glassware - more than $3.4 million. Retail trade is the indicator of the development of the domestic market of Turkmenistan, and its volume increased by 19.6 percent in 2018 compared with 2017, the report said. At the same time, in its structure, the share of the state sector accounted for 7.8 percent and the share of the non-state sector accounted for 92.2 percent.
Source: Trend
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has placed foreign exchange restrictions on importers of textile materials with immediate effect. The measure is part of efforts to encourage the development of the country’s textile industry. The apex bank has also resolved to provide financial support for cotton producers at single-digit interest rates. Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), announced the measures in Abuja on Tuesday. He explained that he was optimistic that the intervention programmes, especially on cotton production would continue with or without him as the governor of CBN. “The intervention programmes have been on since 1978. “They moved from one governor to another governor and I am very optimistic that even if another governor comes, no right-thinking person would abandon an initiative that is laudable and is meant to create jobs and is meant for the good of our country. “Part of that intervention is the support for cotton farmers.’’ The CBN governor whose tenure would end in June this year denied reports of his removal from office. He said: “At least you can see me; I am doing my work.’’ Emefiele who was appointed as CBN governor on June 3, 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan, said: “I am confused and concerned about some stories going around. At least you can see me; I am doing my work; my tenure expires in June.’’ Prior to his appointment, the 57-year-old banker was the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank.
Source: CBN
Trade between Pakistan and India has experienced many upheavals since partition of Sub-Continent, and after lapse of almost 72 years; the trade between the two countries hardly surpassed the figure of just over $2 billion knowing the fact that both the nuclear states have the potential of annual trade of $37 billion between them, a top official at commerce ministry told ‘The News’. “Soon after the partition, in 1948-49, 23.6 percent of Pakistan’s global exports went to India and 50.6 percent imports of Pakistan’s global imports came from India, but over the years and decades on account of wars the trade between the states went down and currently stands at just over $2 billion,” he said. History shows, the official said, that first trade bickering between the two countries started when Pakistan Finance Minister Ghulam Muhammad in October 1949 announced to remove some articles imported from India from the exemption list for import duty and in return Indian Commerce Minister KC Neogy told the Lok Sabha that India suspended export of coal to Pakistan because Pakistan had deliberately detained enormous quantities of jute purchases paid by Indian nationals. After 1965 war and then 1971 war, bilateral trade tumbled to zero. The official while quoting the World Bank report titled A Glass Half Full: The promise of Regional Trade in South Asia, said that the current trade between the two nuclear states is just $2 billion and it could touch the staggering figure of $37 billion if the trade barriers are removed. Prior to Pulwama incident the trade between the two neighbouring countries stood at $2.5 billion out of which imports from India were at $1.7 billion and exports from Pakistan were at $350 million. Following war like situation, India imposed 200 percent customs duty on Pakistani products virtually ending to tariff concessions under MFN status earlier extended to Pakistan. The one sided imposition of 200 percent duty on Pakistani products also ate up the tariff concessions earlier available under SAFTA (South Asia Free Trade Agreement). Now Pakistan’s export to India is subject to lifting of 200 percent duty. Soon after India imposed 200 percent duty on Pakistani products, the top authorities in the Commerce Ministry had worked out tit-for-tat strategy. Under the strategy it was proposed to place Indian 90 items in the negative list under which import from India will immediately be curtailed by $500-600 million. Ministry also proposed to ban Indian items worth $600 million being exported to Afghanistan under transit trade agreement. But the top leadership did not accord approval to it. However, both countries currently have no bilateral trade agreement, rather it was SAFTA accord signed between SAARC countries and being WTO member, under which all countries give MFN status to each other and under that status, India was giving to Pakistan the tariff concession which it is giving to all trading countries. However, under WTO regime, member countries can have bilateral agreement such as Preferential Trade Agreement and Free Trade Agreement. The South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) is an agreement reached on January 6, 2004, at the in Islamabad and the said agreement came into force on January 1, 2006 creating a free trade agreement of 1.6 billion people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (as of 2018, the combined population is 2.08 billion people, about 27% of the world's population). India and Pakistan ratified the treaty in 2009, whereas Afghanistan as the 8th member state of the SAARC ratified the SAFTA protocol on 4 May 2011. In case of Pakistan, India has withdrawn MFN status and tariff concessions under SAFTA regime which is why export to India at the moment came to halt. Pakistan established the negative list under which India cannot export 1209 items to Pakistan. India granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, a year after the formation of WTO. But India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has withdrawn the MFN treatment to Pakistan. Pakistan still hasn’t granted MFN status to India. Pakistan argues it has no benefit of MFN status as NTBs are creating hurdles for smooth exports of Pakistani products to Indian market. The official said Pakistan switched over to Negative List regime for trade with Pakistan in March 20, 2012 and to this effect an SRO (Statutory Regulatory Order) was issued under which 1209 items were included in the Negative List (Over 500 of which were auto, iron and steel products). Only 137 item were importable from India. Major items included in the list of importable items are livestock, vegetables and newsprint in rolls or sheets. For the manufacture of pharmaceutical products, the manufacturer also import raw material (except basic manufactured locally) and packing material approved by the Director General Health Government of Pakistan. Pakistan, currently, trades with India under positive list regime and imports items through other countries which increases the cost of the items in the local market. To a question, official said that trade with India in negative list regime was allowed only to protect our local industry and the phasing out of negative list had been linked with removal of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) by India ensuring the access of Pakistani products in the Indian markets. The official said that neither India removed NTBs nor Pakistan phased out Negative List. Pakistan is currently exporting 74 products to India. Pakistan export in 2015-16 stood at $312.2 million, in 2016-17, exports were at $348 million and in 2017-18 export were at $ 350 million. However, Pakistan imports 137 products through wagha. The import from India remained in 2015-16 at $1.66 billion which slightly came down to $1.64 in 2016-17 and slightly went up to $1.79 billion in 2017-18. Pakistan has a list of 936 items and almost 17.9pc of tariff lines that apply to imports from all Safta countries. India maintains a list of 25 items (0.5pc of tariff lines), which includes goods such as alcohol, firearms, etc. However, it has a much longer, 64-item list, (almost 11.7pc of tariff lines) for Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but which effectively applies only to Pakistan, because India applies a smaller sensitive list to Sri Lanka as part of a separate India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. Items on the Indian sensitive list can be imported at the most-favoured-nation tariffs from any Safta country, including Pakistan, because India accorded Pakistan the status in 1996, soon after the accession of the two countries to the World Trade Organisation. However, Pakistan has not granted India the most-favoured-nation’s status or non-discriminatory market access.In addition, the preferential access granted by Pakistan on 82.1pc of tariff lines under Safta is partially blocked in the case of India because Pakistan maintains a negative list comprising 1,209 items that cannot be imported from India. In practice, many of these items are exported from India to Pakistan through a third country, usually the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan import from India cotton, organic chemicals, Plastics and articles thereof, Machinery, mechanical appliances, nuclear reactors, boilers; parts thereof, tanning or dyeing extracts; tannins and their derivatives; dyes, pigments and other colouring, Rubber and articles thereof, Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal, Iron and steel, Ships, boats and floating structures Miscellaneous chemical products, Man-made staple fibers. Pharmaceutical products, Essential oils and resinoids; perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations, Coffee, tea, maté and spices, Soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations, lubricating preparations, artificial, Inorganic chemicals; organic or inorganic compounds of precious metals, of rare-earth metals, Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral, Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products; prepared edible fats; animal, Man-made filaments; strip and the like of man-made textile materials, Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers, Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television, Aluminum and articles thereof, Wadding, felt and nonwovens; special yarns; twine, cordage, ropes and cables and articles thereof, Edible fruit and nuts; peel of citrus fruit or melons, Cereals, Special woven fabrics; tufted textile fabrics; lace; tapestries; trimmings; embroidery, Miscellaneous manufactured articles, Meat and edible meat offal, articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos, mica or similar materials, Preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk; pastry cooks products, Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical, Lac; gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts, Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad , Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, Sugars and sugar confectionery, Albuminoidal substances; modified starches; glues; enzymes, Fertilisers, Preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants, Copper and articles thereof, Knitted or crocheted fabrics, Miscellaneous edible preparations, Products of the milling industry; malt; starches; inulin; wheat gluten, Other base metals; cermets; articles thereof, Zinc and articles thereof, Salt; sulphur; earths and stone; plastering materials, lime and cement, Raw hides and skins (other than furskins) and leather, Glass and glassware, Ores, slag and ash, Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted, Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks, of base metal; parts thereof of base metal, Dairy produce; birds' eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin, not elsewhere , Impregnated, coated, covered or laminated textile fabrics; textile articles of a kind suitable , Articles of iron or steel, Vegetable plaiting materials; vegetable products not elsewhere specified or included, Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted, Lead and articles thereof, Cocoa and cocoa preparations, Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard, Miscellaneous articles of base metal, Nickel and articles thereof, Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and accessories thereof, Other made-up textile articles; sets; worn clothing and worn textile articles; rags, Railway or tramway locomotives, rolling stock and parts thereof; railway or tramway track fixtures , Residues and waste from the food industries; prepared animal fodder, Wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal, Toys, games and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof, Ceramic products, Commodities not elsewhere specified, Footwear, gaiters and the like; parts of such articles, Preparations of meat, of fish or of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, Wool, fine or coarse animal hair; horsehair yarn and woven fabric, Works of art, collectors' pieces and antiques, Photographic or cinematographic goods, Headgear and parts thereof, Cork and articles of cork, Clocks and watches and parts thereof, Other vegetable textile fibers; paper yarn and woven fabrics of paper yarn, Products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included, Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts thereof, Articles of leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles, Carpets and other textile floor coverings, Furniture; bedding, mattresses, mattress supports, cushions and similar stuffed furnishings, Musical instruments; parts and accessories of such articles, Beverages, spirits and vinegar, Silk, Tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes. However, Pakistan exports to India edible fruit and nuts; peel of citrus fruit or melons, Salt; sulphur; earths and stone; plastering materials, lime and cement, Raw hides and skins (other than furskins) and leather, Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral, Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical, cotton, Iron and steel, copper and articles thereof, Inorganic chemicals; organic or inorganic compounds of precious metals, of rare-earth metals, sugars and sugar confectionery, fertilisers, ores, slag and ash, Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal, glass and glassware, Rubber and articles thereof, wool, fine or coarse animal hair; horsehair yarn and woven fabric, Tanning or dyeing extracts; tannins and their derivatives; dyes, pigments and other colouring , Plastics and articles thereof, Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted, beverages, spirits and vinegar, preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants, Lac; gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts, Machinery, mechanical appliances, nuclear reactors, boilers; parts thereof, coffee, tea, maté and spices, articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted, toys, games and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof, other made-up textile articles; sets; worn clothing and worn textile articles; rags, articles of leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles, Essential oils and resinoids; perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations, Knitted or crocheted fabrics, Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard, Wadding, felt and nonwovens; special yarns; twine, cordage, ropes and cables and articles thereof, Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks, of base metal; parts thereof of base metal, Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos, mica or similar materials, Silk, Impregnated, coated, covered or laminated textile fabrics; textile articles of a kind suitable, Articles of iron or steel, Man-made staple fibers, Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, precious metals, metals clad, Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television, Fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates, Residues and waste from the food industries; prepared animal fodder, Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, Lead and articles thereof, Footwear, gaiters and the like; parts of such articles, Miscellaneous manufactured articles, Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers, Man-made filaments; strip and the like of man-made textile materials, Organic chemicals, Preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk; pastry cooks' products, Carpets and other textile floor coverings. The past trade history also unfolds that the economic managers of the both the states realized the importance of the bilateral trade agreement and to this effect both the states inked an 11 months first ever bilateral trade agreement on August 5, 1952 which came into effect from August 8, 1952 till June 30, 1953. Under which Pakistan was to import 26 commodities from India, And India was to import 14 commodities from Pakistan. Mr M Karamatullah signed the trade agreement on behalf of Pakistan whereas Mr Bhoothalingam on behalf of India. Mr M Karamatullah was leader of Pakistan trade delegation who remained in talks with India trade team headed by Mr Bhoothalingam..
Source: The International News
