PR Resource – Muarateweh.net

India has raised the minimum price for non-basmati rice exports to $1,000 per tonne from $650 per tonne free-on-board, the commerce ministry said, in a move to slow down overseas sales.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade, an arm of the commerce ministry, said in a notification dated March 27 on its Web site (www.dgft.delhi.nic.in) that the floor price for exports has been raised to 40,000 rupees or $1,000 a tonne.

The government has been trying to discourage rice exports to rein in rising domestic prices.
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Thanks to heavy rainfall in Turkey, Syria and Iran and faourable weather condition at home, India’s exports of jeera (cummin seed) is looking up. The hub of country’s jeera trade, Unjha in Mehsana district of Gujarat is buzzing with activities. According to traders, due to prolonged winter this year, the country’s raw jeera production is likely to exceed 2.5 million bags (60 kg a bag) during 2007-2008 up fromŁ.6 million bags recorded during 2006-7, a hefty increase of 56%.

“Jeera crop requires low rainfall along with low temperature. Thus the long winter spell this year has helped in bumper crop,” Manu Patel, president, Market Yard Merchant Association, Unjha, told FE. According to Patel, domestic consumption of jeera is around 2.2 million bags. “With the bumper crop, the exports are going to rise significantly,” Patel said.

He said that exports were expected to rise from 2 lakh bags achieved last year to 5 lakhs bags this year. Heavy rains in other jeera producing countries like Turkey, Syria and Iran during (continue reading…)

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) has achieved the milestone of half a million exports.

The company’s cumulative exports crossed 500,000 units with the loading of its latest product the i10 this morning at the Chennai port, aboard a car carrier.

Winner of the prestigious ‘Top Exporter of the Year 2005-06′ award from the Engineering Export Promotional Council (EEPC) in the category of large enterprises of India, HMIL is also the consecutive winner of the CNBC ‘Exporter of the Year’ for the last two years. The company has attained this benchmark of exporting half a million cars in record time, less than 9 years.

HMIL’s car exports had a humble beginning, with a twenty car shipment to Nepal in 1999. The company today ranks as the largest passenger car exporter, with 90 countries on the overseas buyer’s list and exports projected to grow to well over 2 lakh units per annum from this year.
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By Ethirajan Anbarasan
BBC News

India has raised the minimum price at which it exports non-basmati rice in a renewed effort to discourage exports and control domestic food costs.

This is the second time in a month that India has raised its minimum price for exporting rice.

The price has gone up from $650 to $1,000 per tonne for non-basmati rice.

India is the second-largest rice producer in the world. It usually exports more than four million tonnes of rice a year.

The government imposed a total ban on non-basmati rice exports last October but lifted it following protests from exporters. (continue reading…)

By Sophia Pearson and Phil Milford

March 28 (Bloomberg) — Liberty Media Corp.’s billionaire Chairman John Malone can’t oust IAC/InterActiveCorp Chairman Barry Diller and six directors, a judge ruled, thwarting Malone’s effort to gain control of the Internet company. IAC rose as much as 9.7 percent in after-market trading.

Liberty had argued Diller should be removed because his proposal to split IAC into five parts violated a proxy agreement giving him control of Liberty’s majority voting power in IAC. In a ruling issued today in Wilmington, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Stephen Lamb found the plan didn’t violate the accord.

Lamb’s decision came after a five-day trial to settle a dispute over the control of IAC. Diller, 66, is dueling with Malone, 67, over the spinoff plan, which would cut Liberty’s voting power in half in four new companies. Lamb’s ruling paves the way for Diller to move ahead with the proposal, which requires the approval of IAC’s board. (continue reading…)

WASHINGTON – U.S. sets export record, but trade deficit grows – US trade deficit grew larger despite record exports in January as imports — including crude-oil prices — zoomed to all-time highs.

The latest snapshot of trade activity, reported by the Commerce Department on today, showed that the country’s trade gap increased to $58.2 billion. That was up from a trade shortfall of $57.9 billion in December and was the highest since November.

The trade gap widened even as exports of U.S.-made goods and services totaled a record high of $148.2 billion in January. The declining value of the U.S. dollar, relative to other currencies such as the euro, is helping to make U.S.-made goods cheaper and thus more attractive to foreign buyers.
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According to the set plan, in 2008, total export turnover of goods is expected to reach 59.2 billion USD, up 22 percent compared to last year’s figure. The processing industrial group continues to post high growth with estimated export turnover reaching 28.2 billion USD, up 30.8 percent against the previous year. Mr Pham The Dung, head of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said that there have been significant changes in export activities this year, especially in the mineral group. For example, crude oil has always accounted for over 20 percent in the previous years, but is it now likely to drop to around 16 percent this year. The second group (including agro-forestry and aquatic products) previously made up around 20 percent in the previous years, but is expected to decline to between 17-18 percent this year. The industrial and processing industrial group is set to increase to 67-68 percent compared to last year’s figure of 60 percent. In 2008, the export growth will mostly depend on the growth of industrial and processing industrial groups.
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