Indonesia Palm Oil exports rise 24% in August

Indonesia's exports of Crude Palm Oil and its derivatives rose 24 percent to 2.98 million tons in August 2017 from 2.40 million tons in the preceding month, according to latest data from the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki).

India is showing growing demand for Indonesian palm oil, even though the world's largest Palm Oil importer implemented higher import duties. Earlier this year, India doubled import duties on CPO from 7.5% to 15% in an effort to protect its domestic palm oil farmers. India also raised the levy on refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm olein by 10% to 25%.

Palm oil shipments to China touched a record this year as exports to the world's second-largest economy rose 169 percent from 167,280 tons in a month earlier to 449,200 in August 2017.

Shipments to China rise because the nation is safeguarding sufficient Palm Oil reserves at home, Gapki said.

Oil imports: India readies to play hardball with suppliers over pricing

New Delhi: After telling Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members on Sunday that India has other options to buy oil at competitive prices, New Delhi is set to play hardball with its traditional suppliers from the Middle East on pricing.

India is reworking its import strategy by stepping up the share of short-term contracts to take advantage of the bear market and is exploring long-term supply deals at discounted price with its newest oil trade partner, the US, the re-entry of which in global oil markets last year has stepped up competition among suppliers.

“The economics of oil is very dynamic. We have some long-term contracts with the Middle East (suppliers) which we will continue with. Wherever we get competitive prices, we will buy. Price is very sensitive to us,” oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a press conference.

In the medium term, India’s negotiating power on oil will get extra muscle when its under-construction liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals will start meeting part of its energy requirement in transportation, power generation and in fertilizer production. Two LNG terminals of 5 million tonnes each are coming up at Ennore in Chennai and at Dhamra in Odisha.
The likely expansion of the electric vehicle industry too is expected to give India extra negotiation power in its oil trade.

Pradhan had last Sunday told Sanusi Mohammed Barkindo, the visiting secretary general of Opec, that New Delhi has other buying options, an oil ministry statement said on that day.

Pradhan’s message to the 14-member producers’ grouping urging “responsible pricing” came after the first shipment of US crude reached Indian Oil Corp. Ltd’s Paradeep refinery on 2 October at a $2 per barrel discount compared to Dubai crude. Opec accounts for 86% of crude oil, 75% of gas and 95% of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that India imports.

It is economics that is driving purchase decisions as a discount of $2 a barrel could bring huge gains, said an Indian Oil Corp. official on condition of anonymity.

“Whatever can be saved in the price of crude, automatically goes to the refiner’s bottom line as crude accounts for the biggest cost in refining business,” said the official. Indian state-owned refiners have already placed a cumulative order 7.85 million barrels from the US.
The entry of the US in the oil exports market has increased competition among suppliers, said Richard Joswick, managing director-oil group, PIRA Energy, a forecasting and analytics unit of S&P Global Platts.

“The US entering the global crude export market, along with the surging growth in US shale oil production, will result in one of the largest changes in oil trade in many years. In a few years time, the US gross exports should hit 3 million barrels per day or more. That would put it ahead of most of the Opec countries,” said Joswick.

Experts also said that a persistent oversupply situation has rendered crude oil a buyer’s market, curtailing the ability of Opec members to influence pricing by adjusting supplies. Recent efforts of cutting output by Opec has also failed to prop up prices as US shale producers are continuously adding more output to the market.

Rahul Prithiani, director of Crisil Research, said that countries like India, China and Japan have raised their imports of US crude in recent months.

China imported an average of 100,000 barrels of crude a day from the US during the first five months of 2017, 10 times the level for the same period last year, increasing its share of US imports to 2% from 0.1% last year, said Prithiani. In the same period, the share of Chinese oil imports from Middle East has declined to 41% from about 47%.“With more competition in the market and weak demand growth, pricing will be competitive which is great for buyers like India,” he said.

Indians prefer India-made goods for Diwali; Chinese goods may suffer

New Delhi: This Diwali, Chinese items such as like  lights, gift items, lamps and wall hangings among others could see a decline of upto 45 percent as people are preferring  Indian products, said industry chamber Assocham.

“There has been a 40-45 percent impact on goods like decorative lights which records huge sales during Diwali, whereas a slight impact has also been seen on China-made electronic goods like mobile phones etc. As per the paper, the demand of electronic items like LCDs, mobile phones and others items made in China has also declined by 15-20 per cent,” said  D.S. Rawat, secretary general Assocham releasing the paper.

The chamber said  that as per its findings people are preferring Indian products over Chinese goods during this Diwali.
“According to the shopkeepers, most of the customers are demanding Indian lights.  People are not interested in purchasing Chinese products while showing interest in local products including earthen diyas,” said Assocham. It said there was a huge demand for made in China fancy lights in the market but it is also decreasing.

“Also, the quality of Chinese products is also questionable with no shopkeeper giving any sort of guarantee on Chinese items once sold. Fire crackers made at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu are preferred in comparison to Chinese crackers,” said the chamber.Assocham said it interacted with wholesalers, retailers, traders in cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Mumbai to estimate the demand for Chinese products across India.

“According to an estimate, the value of Chinese goods sold in 2016 during Diwali was around Rs 6,500 crore. Out of the total, over Rs 4,000 crore was Diwali-related items such as toys, fancy lights, gift items, plastic ware, decorative goods among others,” it said. 

India is a big market for Chinese products and over the years import of toys, furniture, building hardware, crackers, lighting and electric fittings, furnishing fabric, office stationary, electronic appliances, consumer  electronics, kitchen equipment & appliances, gift items and watches from China has increased to a great extent in India, said Assocham.

India's coffee exports up 9.36% in 2016-17 marketing year

Coffee exports from India, Asia’s third-largest producer and exporter of coffee, rose by 9.36 per cent to 3,76,873 tonne in the marketing year that ended September 2017, buoyed by higher global prices, according to state-run Coffee Board.

The country's coffee shipments stood at 3,44,613 tonne in the 2015-16 marketing year.

"Two factors contributed for higher shipments in 2016-17. Firstly, there was enough domestic supply to meet the export demand as the domestic output was record in 2015-16. Also, global prices were better," a senior Board official told PTI.

As a result, coffee exports remained robust both in terms of volume and value in 2016-17, he said.
According to the Board data, the export value realisation rose 7.31 per cent to Rs 1,64,284 per tonne of coffee in 2016 -17 from Rs 1,53,089 tonnne in the year-ago period. Total coffee exports in value terms rose to Rs 6,191.43 crore from Rs 5,275 crore in the said period, it added.

The domestic supply was adequate as the output was record 3.48 lakh tonne in the 2015-16 crop year.

Normally, robusta variety comprises 70 per cent of the total coffee exports, while the rest is arabica coffee.

Major export destinations are Italy, Germany, Turkey, Russian Federation and Belgium, among others.

Coffee exports from India

Steel production rises 5.1%, consumption up 4.3% in April-September

“Production for sale of total finished steel at 52.079 mt, registered a growth of 5.1 per cent during April-September 2017 over the same period last year… consumption of finished steel in India saw a growth of 4.3 per cent in April-September 2017 (42.883 MT) over the same period last year, under the influence of rising production for sale and imports,” the Ministry’s Joint Plant Committee’s (JPC) report said.

SAIL, RINL, TSL, Essar, JSWL and JSPL together produced 30.44 mt during the first six months of the current fiscal, which was a growth of 9.8 per cent over same period of last year.

However, the report said overall production for sale of total finished steel at 8.814 MT in September was down by 0.2 per cent over August 2017 but was up by 5.6 per cent over corresponding month last year.

“During April-September 2017, crude steel production was 49.764 MT, a growth of 4.5 per cent over same period of last year,” the report said.

According to it, the consumption at 7.449 MT last month was up by 4 per cent over September 2016.

However, India’s total import of finished steel at 4.318 MT in April-September period was up 20.1 per cent over the same period last year. Imports in September was 0.81 MT, up 31.9 per cent over year-ago month.

The report also said India’s steel export grew by 60.1 per cent to 4.852 MT in the first six months of the current fiscal over the same period last year.

“Overall exports in September 2017, at 1.119 MT, was up by 20.8 per cent over August 2017 and was up by 70.6 per cent over September 2016,” it added.

Indian exports to China up by 40.69% in Jan-Aug period

BEIJING: India's exports to China, which have been showing signs of revival this year after years of slump, registered a 40.69 per cent rise year-on-year to reach $10.60 billion in the first seven months of 2017.

Fired by exports of zinc, iron ore and steel, total Indian exports to China registered a 38.6 per cent increase year-on-year in August this year totaling to $1.26 billion, the sharpest increase this year.

However, the trade deficit expanded to $44.51 billion in the first seven months despite surge in Indian exports as imports from China continue to increase.

The India-China bilateral trade increased 18.34 per cent year-on-year to reach $55.11 billion from January to August this year, according to official data accessed by here.

India's exports to China increased by 40.69 per cent year-on-year to reach $10.60 billion during the seven months.

India's imports from China saw a year-on-year growth of 14.02 per cent to reach $44.50 billion.
The cause for surge of Indian exports to China was a result of an exponential increase of 353.99 per cent of exports of zinc and related items, 248.19 per cent of iron and steel and 100.7 per cent increase in ores and slag and 151.17 per cent rise in copper.

India was the second largest exporter of diamonds to China totalling to $1.63 billion with a market share of 32.97 per cent after South Africa.
India was the second largest exporter of salt, sulphur, earths and stone, plastering materials, lime, and cement to China totalling to $692 million with 17.39 per cent market share after Turkey.

India's cotton exports, including yarn and woven fabric, to China showed a growth of 6.77 per cent to reach $844 million.
The country was the third largest exporter of cotton to China after Vietnam and the US accounting for 15.05 per cent share in the Chinese market.
India-China bilateral trade increased by 14.93 per cent year-on-year in August to reach $7.51 billion .
Despite the increase in Indian exports to China, Indian business and trade circles associated with bilateral trade however, advise caution as it is mostly led by iron ore and steel exports which started declining in 2013 due to a domestic crackdown on mines as well as China scaling down its steel production due to the global economic crisis.
The trade deficit began expanding ever since iron ore exports, the mainstay of Indian exports started declining.

Last year, the trade deficit climbed to $52 billion.

India has been pressing China to open up its pharmaceutical and IT software sectors to expand the base of Indian exports.

So far, there has been no major breakthrough in both areas, despite promises by China.

US Oil Export to India Will Increase Jobs: Rick Perry

Washington: Export of American crude oil to India will create jobs, economic stability and national security in both countries, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has said, days after the first-ever shipment of US crude oil landed in Odisha.

The shipment, loaded at Saint James, Louisiana and Freeport, Texas terminals last month, docked at Paradip port in Odisha on October 2."This event represents the growing and important strategic energy partnership between the US and India, and I look forward to exploring new opportunities to expand the role of reliable, responsible, and efficient energy sources with our allies," Perry said yesterday.
He said the export of US crude oil to India will create jobs, economic stability and national security in both countries.

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, Indian companies ramped up purchases of American crude.To encourage US crude purchases, the government has allowed refiners to use a foreign rather than an Indian-owned vessel for the purchase. Indian refiners typically have to use domestic vessels for their crude imports.

In a blog post on Thursday, the US State Department said increased Indian purchases of US crude oil are a direct outcome of the June visit of Modi to the White House during which the leaders committed to expanding and elevating bilateral energy cooperation through a Strategic Energy Partnership.

"We expect this first shipment of crude oil will be followed by many more as both the Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum have placed orders for over 2 million barrels from the United States," said Tom Vajda, Office Director for the India Desk in the South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department.
US crude oil shipments to India have the potential to boost bilateral trade by up to USD 2 billion.

"Not only does this week's shipment demonstrate the strength of the US-India bilateral relationship, but also how our relationship with India continues to benefit the American economy," Vajda said.

Buying US crude has become attractive for Indian refiners after the differential between Brent (the benchmark crude or marker crude that serves as a reference price for buyers in the western world) and Dubai (which serves as a benchmark for countries in the east) has narrowed.

India, the world's third-largest oil importer, joins Asian countries like South Korea, Japan and China to buy US crude after production cuts by oil cartel OPEC drove up prices of Middle East heavy-sour crude, or grades with a high sulphur content.

US Crude Oil Export to India