Import/Export Industry Notifications

The first container train carrying FMCG products and other items arrived at the Benapole railways station of Bangladesh. It had started from Majerhat station near Kolkata with a consignment of soaps, shampoos, other FMCG items and textile fabric in 50 containers. The arrival of the container train is the culmination of the process that started in 2017 when an MoU was signed between Container Corporation of India and the Bangladesh Container Company Ltd. India and Bangladesh have been upgrading the cooperation in railways over the years.

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CONCOR has flagged off a container train service to Bangladesh, seeking to tap into the growing trade with the neighbouring country. The inaugural service ran from Concor’s Majerhat terminal in Kolkata to Bangladesh via Benapole. This will be a regular service linking nominated terminals of Concor with various stations in Bangladesh such as Benapole, Jessore, Singia, Noapara and BBW. The trains will run through the Petrapole-Benapole border of India and Bangladesh. This will meet the much-awaited demand from the trade.

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Export of iron and steel products witnessed a sharp rise of more than 100% in June, even as export of engineering goods from India registered a decline of 7.24%. Out of 33 engineering export items, 27 recorded negative year-on-year growth in June, while all the six positive entries related to metals, with iron and steel being on top of the table. A drop in domestic demand, disruption in supply chain and acute shortage of construction labour led several top steelmakers to export more than 50-60% of their sales volume during the May-June period.

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Air cargo handlers have had a tough time recently. They are currently facing huge financial difficulties and airlines appear to be shuffling the pack. The WFS had won new contracts in Spain, while Qatar Airways Cargo has picked Menzies as its new handler at Heathrow. Qatar has had a contract with WFS in Dallas since 2014, and last month it launched a court case in the US against WFS. It has been well-documented that handlers’ margins can be horribly slim and that airlines do not invest in them sufficiently.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced N50 billion special mechanism funds to revive the ailing textiles industry. The funds to be administered by the BoI at 4.5 per cent interest rate will use any of the CBN-approved non-interest financing instruments for the refinancing of projects. It will also use it for long- term financing for the acquisition of plant and machinery and working capital for the beneficiaries. A statement containing the guidelines for the revival pill, tagged “Central Bank of Nigeria Non-Interest Guidelines for Intervention in the Textile Sector”, was released.

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According to DGGI officials, a transporter firm named Kanhaiya Cargo movers, which has its head office in Kolkata and branch office in Surat was helping textile traders to avail GST credit fraudulently, on fake purchase of goods and fake return of their goods from Kolkata. Officials of DGGI, Surat, said that as per the primary investigation, they have evaded tax amounting to around Rs 150 crore. They were contacting each other through an agent, who charges 1.5-2 per cent of the amount as commission.

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The first-ever container cargo from Kolkata via Bangladesh's Chattogram port has reached Agartala. It is a historic milestone in the Indo-Bangladesh connectivity and economic partnership. This movement was carried out under an agreement on the use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports for movement of India's transit cargo through Bangladesh. This will help in the further development of the north-eastern region of the country.

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Since there is a significant amount of cargo shortfall close to the sailings of the planned vessels, it is negatively affecting HAPAG LLOYD’s ability to meet additional transport needs. Their goal is to reduce the amount of shipment shortfall shortly before the planned vessel departure. Hence, Hapag-Lloyd India will implement a Booking No Show Fee for export bookings from Indian ports with effect from August 15, 2020. This will be applicable for confirmed bookings where no equipment has been picked up within 7 calendar days to vessel departure. BCF tariff will be 25 USD per standard container, any size.

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Amazon global reported that Indian MSMEs had crossed 2 billion dollars in cumulative exports under its Global Selling Programme (GSP). This has been a boon to many MSMEs which have suffered due to weak domestic demand. The programme has now grown to have almost 60,000 exporters. MSMEs are set to contribute 60% to India’s exports and big players like Amazon are essential for taking the economy forward.

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