Column: China's coal imports soar as India's stumble

LAUNCESTON, Australia (Reuters) - China's imports of coal from the seaborne market surged again in July, providing a stark contrast to a fourth consecutive monthly decline for India.

It's possible that the market should be paying more attention to China's growing imports rather than India's downturn.

The different dynamics in the world's two largest importers of the polluting fuel are largely a reflection of juxtaposing domestic policies.

China is restricting domestic coal output and shutting inefficient mines, which, coupled with a decline in hydropower output, has boosted demand for imports.

India, which gave back the title of the world's top coal importer to China last year, has a stated policy of reducing coal imports to zero and is boosting domestic production and efficiency of distribution toward that end.

China's seaborne imports were 20.8 million tonnes in July, up sharply from 17.9 million in June, according to vessel-tracking and port data monitored by Thomson Reuters Supply Chain and Commodity Forecasts.

The July data may be slightly revised in coming days as cargoes that arrived in the last few days of the month are factored in, but this won't change the underlying message that China's imports are strong.

July will be the third month this year where seaborne imports have exceeded 20 million tonnes, taking the year-to-date total to 135.2 million tonnes, up 12 percent from the first seven months of 2016.

Looking at the breakdown of suppliers, and top exporter Australia has fared better than regional rival Indonesia, most likely because it is the major global shipper of coking coal used to make steel, while Indonesia concentrates on lower grade thermal coal.

China's imports from Australia were 8 million tonnes in July, taking the year-to-date total to 51.26 million, a gain of 15.3 percent over the same period in 2016.

Indonesia has supplied more to China, with 56.72 million tonnes in the first seven months, but this is only up 10.3 percent from the same period last year, or about two-thirds of Australia's increase.

While not a major supplier to China, it's worth noting that the United States has shipped 4.03 million tonnes in the January-July period, double the 1.96 million from the same period last year.

Lessons in tourism for India, from Indonesia

PUNE: There is a lot India can do to attract more tourists from Indonesia. Against 3,76,000 Indians travelling to Indonesia in 2016, India could manage to attract only 35,000 tourists from the south east Asian nation to India in the same year, data compiled by the Bureau of Immigration, India, stated.
This huge gap can be filled only if Indian authorities take up a more aggressive approach and start promoting India as a health and education hub to lure more tourists to their land, Saut Siringoringo, counsel general, Consulate General of The Republic of Indonesia, said.
"Indian travellers now rank fifthe among all sources of foreign tourist visitors to Bali," the Indonesian tourism ministry said in a compendium, titled `Indonesia country profile - Trade, Tourism & Investment opportunities'. High ranking officials representing the Indonesian tourism ministry are in India and are travelling to select cities to woo more Indian tourists, which is something Indian authorities should also indulge in.
The Indonesian authorities expect at least half a million Indian tourists travelling to their country this year.
"To achieve this goals, Indonesia will place emphasis on digital promotions, air connectivity and construction of 20,000 home stays in tourism villages across the archipelago," the ministry said.
"Of these 5 lakh potential arrivals, we expect to get at least 60% to come to Bali alone," said IGN Rai Suryawijaya, chairman of Badung tourism promotion board.
More and more Indians prefer going to Bali because it closely resembles India on culture and religious background. So, the officials are now out to promote "top 10 new destinations," dubbing them as "10 new Balis."
Even in terms of bilateral trade, data shows, India needs to do a lot more to bridge the huge trade deficit.
The Indo-Indonesian bilateral trade touched $12.96 billion in 2016, in which India imported about products worth $10.09 billion while managed to exports product worth $2.87 billion.
Here again, Indonesia has a piece of advice for India, when it says - "there is considerable potential for expanding trade in the areas of IT, pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors, among others".

World Cotton output may rise 8% this season

World Cotton production is projected to increase by 8% to 24.9 million tons in 2017/18 season due entirely to an 8% expansion in world Cotton area to 31.7 million hectares, which is below the 20-year average of 32.7 million hectares, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) said in its latest report.
The world average yield is forecast at 785 kg/ha.

India is expected to remain the world’s largest producer in 2017/18 with output increasing by 6% to 6.1 million tons. After falling by 6% in 2016/17, China’s production is projected to rebound by 7% to 5.2 million tons.

Production in the United States is expected to rise by 10% to 4.1 million tons as high prices, sufficient soil moisture in dryland areas and beneficial weather during planting encouraged farmers to expand Cotton area by 18% to 4.5 million hectares.
After two seasons of contraction, better expected returns for Cotton encouraged farmers to expand Cotton area in Pakistan by 9% to 2.7 million hectares.

Assuming the average yield rises by 8% to 717 kg/ha, Pakistan’s production is projected to increase by 17% to 2 million tons, which is similar to its 15-year average.

Cotton production in Brazil is forecast to increase by 5% to 1.6 million tons as high returns in 2016/17, resulting partially from a 17% increase in the average yield, are likely to encourage farmers to expand Cotton area.

Global Coffee exports up 5.7% in June

Global Coffee exports rose 5.7% in June 2017 from a year earlier to 10.437 million 60-kg bags from 9.877 million, data from International Coffee Organization (ICO) showed.
Exports in the first 9 months of Coffee year 2016-17 (Oct to Jun) have increased by 5.6% to 92.29 million bags compared to 87.37 million bags in the same period in the last coffee year.

In the twelve months ending June 2017, exports of Arabica totalled 75.76 million bags compared to 71.21 million bags last year; whereas Robusta exports amounted to 45.45 million bags compared to 43.91 million bags.

Coffee exports data

India exported 591000 60kg bags of Coffee in June, down 4.46% as compared to 620000 bags in the same month last year, according to ICO data.

IGST collection from imports rises about 60% in just one month of GST

NEW DELHI: The collection of Integrated Goods and Services Tax from imports crossed Rs 20,000 crore in July — the first month of the roll out of the new indirect tax regime, pointing towards a major jump in revenues. Total customs revenues in July 2017 stood at Rs 26,500 crore as against Rs 16,625 crore collected in July 2016.

Collections have been quite robust," a government official said. However, the official said IGST collections have also received a boost from the fact that there is a component of state GST as well in the tax.

Besides, the government has done away with a number of countervailing duty (CVD) exemptions and not extended them under the GST regime that were available in the previous tax regime, such as that on some electronic products.

The rise in customs revenues on imports should take care of any decline in GST collections because of any production-related disruption after the rollout of the new regime.

Overall GST trends would be available only in August when the final tax collection numbers for July are collated.

There is apprehensions that revenues may take a hit because of sluggish sales across the country in the first month of GST. Central Board of Excise and Customs would carry out a detailed analysis of the initial trends when the final numbers become available.

India rolled out GST, which replaces 17 central and state taxes such as central excise duty, service tax, value added tax and 23 cesses, from July 1.

IGST collections are first revenue trends on the new tax as also indication of the largely smooth rollout. IGST become payable from June 30 midnight on all goods entering the country, barring the exempted ones.

IGST on imports replaces countervailing duty and is levied in lieu of state GST and Central GST, but over and above basic customs duty. IGST is equal to the sum of Central GST and State GST levied on any product in the country. GST has subsumed countervailing duty, which was levied in lieu of central excise duty, and special additional duty on imports. 

India's engineering exports to China rise 123 per cent in June quarter

NEW DELHI: India's exports of engineering goods to China saw a whopping 123 per cent growth at USD 629 million during April-June this fiscal, driven by an upsurge in shipments of non-ferrous metals, according to trade body EEPC India.

The country's shipments to China stood at USD 282 million in the April-June quarter of the previous fiscal.

The rise assumes significance as India has a massive trade deficit with China, which mounted to USD 46.56 billion last year as Indian exports continued to decline while the bilateral trade marginally slowed down by 2.1 per cent to nearly USD 71 billion, data released earlier showed.

India's overall exports grew by 4.39 per cent to USD 23.56 billion in June, according to commerce ministry data.
Shipments in the first quarter of 2017-18 rose by 10.57 per cent to USD 72.21 billion while imports surged 32.78 per cent to USD 112.2 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 40 billion.

Shipments of engineering goods from India to China aggregated USD 234 million in June, against USD 94 million in the same month last year.

The sharp rise was on the back of a mammoth 971 per cent increase in the shipments of non-ferrous metals in June this year to USD 158 million from a mere USD 14.75 million in the same month last year, the analysis revealed.

T S Bhasin, chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India, hopes that bilateral trade continues to flourish between the two neighbours.

For the April-June period, non-ferrous metals exports to China saw an increase of 344 per cent from USD 80 million last year to USD 355 million in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

India's engineering exports to China

"China is certainly a key trading partner for India. The two economies are among the fastest growing in the world and can complement each other. A pick up in the Chinese economy is also contributing to the rising consumption of the key metals," the EEPC India Chairman said.
China and South Korea were the leading importers of non-ferrous metals from India during April-June with 17 per cent and 14.6 per cent share respectively, Bhasin said.

India is world's third-biggest beef exporter: FAO report

UNITED NATIONS: India is the world's third-biggest exporter of beef and is projected to hold on to that position over the next decade, according to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OECD).

OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2017-2026 report released here this week, said that India exported 1.56 million tonnes of beef last year and was expected to maintain "its position as the third-largest beef exporter, accounting for 16 per cent of global exports in 2026" by exporting 1.93 tonnes that year.


The type of beef exported was not specified, but the meat exported appeared to be mostly from buffaloes as the report specified the animal for imports by Myanmar from India.

According to the OECD database, India imported 363,000 tonnes of beef last year and the amount was projected to stay the same over the decade.

The total world beef exports in 2016 was 10.95 million tonnes and was expected to increase to 12.43 million tonnes by 2026, according to the FAO.