Thursday, January 13, 2011

Duty-free sugar imports allowed till March 31

The Union government has extended the zero-duty regime on refined and raw sugar imports till March 31. The move is aimed at arresting the galloping inflation.

In April 2009, the government removed import duty following a sharp decline in output to nearly 15 million tonnes against the annual domestic demand of 23 million tonnes.

After the zero-duty regime lapsed on December 31, 2010, it brought into effect the earlier duty structure of 60 per cent.

However, a fresh notification issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on January 8 extended the duty-free regime till March 31.

Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, said that the Centre would start issuing permits for export of five lakh tonnes of sugar under open general licence (OGL) after January 30.

Mr Pawar denied any move to cancel the earlier decision to allow the exports of five lakh tonnes of the sweetener following the sudden rise in food prices.

The Directorate of Sugar on January 1 had issued detailed guidelines for export of the five lakh tonnes which was to be pro-rated among individual mills based on their average annual production for the last three years.

The guidelines stated that all applications by mills seeking release orders for their export entitlements "will be processed within 3 working days."

Mr Pawar's statement now that the permits would be issued only after January 30 means that the three working days processing time limit no longer holds. That effectively translates into a suspension of exports.

Imports of sensitive items rises by 14 % in April to October.

Imports of sensitive items increased by 14 per cent to Rs 40,499 crore during April-October 2010, with sharp increases in foodgrains, dairy products, edible oils, rubber and alcoholic beverages.

Rise in imports of crude edible oil increased the total oil imports to Rs15,882 crore, a 12 per cent rise when compared to the same period of 2009.

Dairy products imports trebled to Rs 536 crore in the seven-month period, while rubber imports increased by 93.1 per cent to Rs 977.24 crore.

Automobile imports more than doubled to Rs 1,249 crore, compared to Rs 583 crore in the same period of 2009.

Alcoholic beverages imports went up by 55 per cent to total Rs 102 crore.

Imports of cotton, silk and tea and coffee fell by 26.7 per cent and 19.5 per cent during the period to Rs 945.44 crore and Rs 149.19 crore, respectively.

The sensitive items are a list of more than 300 products crucial for the economy and are monitored by the Commerce Department on a regular basis.

Imports of sensitive items amounted to 4.6 per cent of the total imports during the period. Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, China, Malaysia and the US have gone up, while those from Myanmar, Canada, Brazil and Japan have declined.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Gold imports up by 42 pc in Nov.

Gold imports shot up by over 42 per cent to total 39.8 tonnes in
November despite the ruling high price.

India, the world's largest consumer of the yellow metal, imported 28
tonnes during November 2009, according to data given by the Bombay
Bullion Association (BBA).

With the wedding season under way, prices would continue to reach
greater heights, the World Gold Council (WGC) Managing Director
(Middle East and India), Mr Ajay Mitra, said.

Natural rubber imports at concessional duty rates allowed

The Finance Ministry has allowed concessional imports of natural
rubber for the remaining part of 2010-11, a move that may help meet
the rising demand of the tyre industry.

As much as 40,000 tonnes of natural rubber can be imported till March
31, 2011, at a concessional Customs duty of 7.5 per cent, as against
the existing basic Customs duty level of 20 per cent, the Revenue
Department said.

The tyre industry had been demanding an import duty cut as they
struggled to pass on the rise in raw material costs to the end users.

Natural rubber imports during April-November 2010 totalled 1,43,468
tonnes, showing a 3 per cent increase over the same period of 2009.