Indian exports might be +ve in december - FICCI

In a survey conducted by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, majority of respondents said exports are expected to be in positive terrain by December this year.

The chamber expects an improvement but only in terms of stemming the falling exports on a year-to-year basis in the months ahead.

"Exports are likely to register a reasonable positive growth but we will have to wait at least till the end of this year," the survey said.

Exports have declined by 26 per cent in June for tenth month in a row due to less demand from the global markets.

Countries like Hong Kong, Germany and France are showing fresh signs of global recovery, with the European economy recording marginal GDP growth of 0.3 per cent and Asian economy expanding 3.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2009.

The survey said, "While orders are not coming in thick and fast, still some foreign clients have started placing some new orders or at least reduced the pace of order cancellation."

Ficci surveyed 316 exporters in different sectors such as automotive, gems and jewellery, textiles, handicrafts, leather and marine IT products during June and July 2009.

However, in May exports declined to USD 11.01 billion, down 29.2 per cent year-on-year.

As such, sequentially there is a growth of about 16.4 per cent.

However, Prasad hastened to caution that it is too early to come to any conclusion about export growth.

"The next two months are deciding months. We have to see whether there will be real recovery in trade sector or only changes due to the base effect for the coming months," he added.

However, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director-General Ajay Sahai said the declining trend is likely to continue for some more months.

The exporters' body acknowledged that the government cannot increase demand in the global markets but it should give incentives to exporters so that they do not lose orders.

"The government should take short-term measures first and then come out with long-term policies after the global commerce shows improvement," Sahai said.

The Government is slated to unveil Foreign Trade Policy, which spells out the segments of priority in external trade and also gives incentives and disincentives, depending on the country's needs.

source - economictimes.com

indian Exports to US fell 11.5 perc since recession news came in

(Indian Exports) - India's exports to the US, the single largest market for local exporters, dropped 11.5% during October'08-February'09, as per a study by industry chamber FICCI. The study also revealed that India has lagged behind other competing countries such as China, South Korea and Brazil, that export to the US.

This has come about even as US-bound exports from Ireland, Indonesia and Vietnam have grown in the range of 3-12% during the same five month period. Although exports from China, Korea and Brazil have also dropped, India has fared the worst, as per FICCI. But India outperformed Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia and Singapore for the period.

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In the first two months of 2009, Indian exports to the US dropped 23%, much more than the fourth quarter of 2008, indicating a worsening situation. In the previous quarter (July-September 2008) exports actually grew 14%.

The sectors worst affected by the decline in exports to US include gems & jewellery, textiles & apparel, pharmaceuticals, auto & auto components, marine products and non-ferrous metals. In contrast, chemicals, machinery, iron & steel, instruments, leather, plastics, agro-items and processed food saw higher exports.

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India's exports of machinery & parts grew 19% to $1.2 billion against a 15.4% decline in US global imports of this category. Similarly chemicals export increased over 14% to $974 million even as US chemical imports from all countries put together declined 1.5% for the period. Exports of iron & steel from India matched the 14% rise in US global imports of the products.

The FICCI study observed that in two categories India has lost some share of US imports to competitor countries. In textiles & apparel, Bangladesh and Vietnam have expanded their exports 18% and 9% respectively when Indian exports fell 6.5%. Similarly, India's pharmaceuticals exports declined 37% at a time when such exports from China, Israel and South Korea moved up 27-41%.

Indian exports to non-US markets increasing: Report

The focus of India's exports is shifting from the traditional US market to the UAE, a Dun & Bradstreet report said.

The US has traditionally been India's leading export destination. In FY 2007, US accounted for as much as 14.9 per cent of the total merchandise exports worth an estimated $ 18.9 billion, the report said.

Though US's share in India's merchandise exports declined from 20.7 per cent in FY 2003 to 14.9 per cent in FY 2007, in value terms the shipments increased from $10.9 billion to $18.9 billion.

"This is an indication of India's growing preference for trading with other emerging markets by diversifying its product group and improving its quality," the report added.

The UAE, the second-largest export market, accounted for 9.5 per cent of the country's total exports in FY 2007, while in FY 2003 it accounted for 6.3 per cent only, the report said.

The spurt in exports to the UAE can be largely attributed to a rise in shipments of mineral fuels, mineral oils and products, which constituted almost 30.4 per cent of total exports to the UAE, the report said.

UAE is also an important market for re-export in the entire Middle-East region. In 2005, the total re-export was as high as $26.4-billion.

India's exports to China have also seen a rapid growth from just 3.7 per cent in FY 03 to 6.6 per cent in FY 07.

India's export share to Singapore has gone up from around 2 per cent in FY 2001 to 4.8 per cent in FY 07.