Chennai: The tariff war between the US and China is benefitting India as its exports to the neighbouring country have increased by about 32 per cent during the June-November 2018 period to $8.46 billion, apex exporters body FIEO has said.
In June and September 2018, the US announced high customs duties on several Chinese goods. In retaliation, China also raised levies on American goods. Exports to China had stood at $6.37 billion in June-November 2017.
Growth in exports to China is beneficial for India as it has huge trade deficit with the neighbouring country.
Trade deficit with China increased to $63.12 billion in 2017-18 from $51.11 billion in 2016-17. India is taking several steps to promote shipments to China. Recently it has managed to export agricultural goods such as non-basmati rice to China.
“US-China tariff war is benefiting India. Exports to China jumped from $6.37 billion in June-November 2017 to $8.46 billion in June-November 2018,” Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), President Ganesh Kumar Gupta, said.
He said commodities that have exhibited high growth during the period to China include petroleum products, chemicals, cotton yarn, plastic raw material, and marine products.
Opportune moment
It is also expected that the trade war will help India with oil imports as a possible move by Donald Trump to hurt Venezuela’s oil industry could prove a shot in the arm for Narendra Modi- and the Xi Jinping-led administrations.
If the US decides to deploy a slate of sanctions that it’s said to have drafted against the Latin American nation, American refiners, the No.1 consumer of Venezuelan crude exports, would be forced to cease purchases. That may mean more supply becomes available for the OPEC producer’s other big customers: China and India.
Venezuela was the fourth-biggest crude supplier to India, after Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran, in 2018, when it received about 3.3 lakh barrels a day, according to the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, an arm of the ministry of commerce and industries. The supplies accounted for about eight per cent of total imports. Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy are the country’s only buyers of Venezuelan cargoes.
| Inking pacts |
| India and Mauritius are very close to signing a comprehensive economic partnership very soon to deepen ties, Prime Minister of the island nation Pravind Jugnauth has said.
India and Mauritius will sign at any moment a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement which will stimulate trade and investment in the region, he said at a State Bank of Mauritius event. It is also proposed to have a Mauritius-India Infrastructure Investment Fund for the mutual benefit of both the countries, he said. Jugnauth said the Indian Ocean country can serve as a bridge between India and Africa specifically. He said Mauritius is developing special economic zones with many African countries and urged Indian investors to invest in such zones. His countrys long-term objective is to develop a international finance centre which will act as a bridge between India or Asia and Africa, he said. |