The Union Commerce Minister, 
Mr Ramakrishna   Hedge,   has decided to integrate  all existing export promotion schemes into 
one and strive towards  a more attractive interest rate regime for export credit  since the  recently announced  slash in  credit rates failed  to   address  the  existing problems of exporters.The minister also proposes to bring in foreign investment into export infrastructure and  work  on  developing   new markets in  East and  South Asia 
and Africa  to  overcome   trade barriers in the developed markets 
of European Union and the US.

The worst seems to be over for the Indian diamond industry. Exports have once again started picking up despite the currency crisis hitting hard the economies of the southeast Asian Countries. The growing exports along with the sharp reduction in inventors appears to be the key for fast recovering diamond industry. 
 

INCREASE demand from China for Indian sea food more than offset losses due to the ban on imports by the European Union (EU) and helped the country's marine products sector avert disaster last year. 
The EU ban, which was eventually lifted, had brought about a drop in marine exports to the region by 48 per cent.  But the rise in demand from China earned the sector Rs 47 billion in the 1997-98 financial year.  Marine exports last year grew by 14 per cent in terms of volume. 
 

Export of country's marine products during 1997-98 was to the tune of US $1.3 billion, for the fourth consecutive year. The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) sources told UNI here, on Saturday, that about 1,01,318 tonnes of shrimps valued at Rs 3,140.56 crores were exported. 
 

INDIAN seafood exports are under pressure.  The reasons: a 17 percent import duty on shrimp slapped by China last week, a Japanese demand slump thanks to the fluctuating yen and a sudden glut of shrimp in US markets from the Gulf of Texas. 
 

The All India Spices Exporters Forum has set a target of 25 per cent share of world trade in spices in value terms by 2000 AD. 
The share on Indian spice exports in total value of spice exports is 23 per cent at present. To achieve the target in the next two years, India's share has to go up by 2 per cent of the world trade. In 1997-98, the value of spice exports from the country stood at US $364 million which was 23 per cent of world trade. 
 

CASHEW prices have peaked to the highest level in a decade on reports of a global shortage in raw cashew production.  Prices of cashew kernel have shot up to a peak level of Rs 241 per kg for the W 320 grade, which is the fair average quality.  As against this, the price stood at Rs 172.89 per kg during the same period of the previous year.

IN A BID to rein in onion prices and curb, exports, state owned National Agricultural Marketing Federation (Naffed) has steeply raised selling prices of the commodity for the global market. Naffed, the sole onion  export canalizing agency, has raised freight onboard (FOB) prices of onion by US $150 a tonne to $475 for Gulf countries. 
 

The floriculture industry in India, which started with a big bang in 1992-93, had its share of success. The growth rate of Indian floriculture in the last seven years has been around 563 per cent as compared to Equator (313 per cent) and Zimbabwe (463 per cent). 
Our cut flower exports have galloped from Rs 1.08 crore in 1992-93 to 18.08 crores in 1996-97 and they are expected to cross Rs.25 crores in 1997-98.  More than 200 hectares of land is under hi-tech protected cultivation.

Transport constitutes a considerable part of the landed cost price of floriculture exports.  Regular and direct flights between India and Europe are crucial to exporters, the Netherlands based Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) .

The  exports data for the January -May 1998, confirms the above trend what with fabrics and made ups notching up impressive gains at the expense of cotton yarn. The share of cotton yarn in the total cotton textile export basket for the first five months of the calendar year 1998 has dropped to 40.68 per cent from 48.03 per cent recorded the previous corresponding period. 

Cotton exports pegged at 41 bales

Cotton Exports from the country have recorded a very poor performance during the current season so far with actual shipment totalling only 1.22 lakh bales as against the initial export quota of 7.20 lakh bales released by the Union textiles ministry. Along with the spill over of 88,000 bales from the last season, the total shipment have been 2.10 lakh bales only as against an average 14 to 16 lakh bales during past few years.

SHAWLS,  a woollen marvels woven for centuries in India, seem to be setting a new trend in fashion both at home and aboard as reflected in a three-fold increase in shawl exports over the past five years.  According to figures from the Wool and Woollen Exports Promotion Council, export of shawls, mufflers and scarves have increased in value from Rs 700 million (about $16.5 million) in 1993-94 to Rs 2.28 billion (about $54 million) in 1997-98. 

The TEXTILE ministry in an attempt to bridge the gap between quota released for exports and actually shipped in the case of cotton, is looking at the prospect of diverting the unsubscribed quota from various federations to the open trade category. However, the diversion of quota from federations to open trade category would be strictly restricted to inferior quality staple cotton of medium and medium long varieties only. The inferior quality staple cotton would mean cotton of below fair average quality (FAQ) standard.

Exports may boost apparel wool use in local market

CONSUMPTION of clean apparel wool by the domestic textile industry is likely to touch 40 million kg in the period over next seven years.

THE COMMERCE ministry has finalised an action plan for export of important minerals such as iron ore, manganese ore, chrome ore and mica scrap. This has been done to tap the vast market that exists for these products, officials said.  The total value of exports of these products for the year is expected to be around Rs 4,500 crore.

TYRE exports from India are expected to cross the Rs 1,000 core mark in 1998-99, according to an Automotive Tyre Manufacturer's Association report. In 1997-98, the country had exported tyres worth Rs 903 crore. During the lsat decade, tyre exports have grown at annual compounded rate of 32 per cent and the country exports tyres to over 50 countries. In 1997-98, exports to US constituted 30 per cent of the country's total exports with Asian countries accounting for 29 per cent of total exports.

Contrary to the generally perceived trend in commodity trade, India's coffee exports are booming in quantum terms.  The Asian crisis may have sparked off fears of a global recession but the ill wind in Indonesia, the world's biggest producer and export of Robust coffees, appears to have blown a lot of good for India's coffee exports.

Tea, Coffee Rubber, Onion and Cotton are  among the 2000 items on which India haas removed import restrictions for South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) members from August 1, 1998. 

Agriculture exports from the country are estimated to have declined during 1997-98 largely due to a drop in food grain exports from Rs 3,784 crore to Rs 2,480 crore in value terms.  Major exports in the sector fell from over Rs 11,000 crores in value terms during 1996-97 to over Rs 10,500 crore during 1997-98.

Some of the leading gherkin exporters in the country lost their shirt , while referring to what they perceived as negligible funding by the country's leading banks for cultivation of this vegetable.  Most of India's 20 gherkin exporters are based in karnataka and they account for over 70 percent of the Rs 125 crore of foreign exchange earned annually through exports.