Week ending July 18, 2002

News on Ports

Paradip plans to deepen the habour The Paradip Port Trust (PPT) is awaiting the final nod from the Ministry of Shipping for its Rs. 100 crore scheme for deepening the harbour and widening of the navigation channel. The scheme, when implemented will help deep draft vessels - Capesize bulk carriers and Suezmax tanker - to call on the port. The plan is designed to optimize the use of new oil jetty set to become operational in next few months. The scheme, originally mooted to help Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) plan for setting up a oil refinery at Paradip, with the oil jetty handling nine million tonnes of crude. However, with IOC plan put on the back burner, oil jetty is being seen as a transshipment point for supplying crude oil to Haldia, which can handle only small vessels with an average load of 30,000 tonnes.

KoPT traffic moves up by 9.7 per cent Kolkata Port Trust has achieved a 9.71 per cent growth in traffic compared to the all-India average of 13.8 per cent in the first quarter of current fiscal year (April-June 202-03). The port handled a total of 7.6 million tonnes of cargo during the period as against 6.9 million tonnes same period of last fiscal. The major chunk of the traffic share has come from Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) at 6.6 million tonnes registering a growth of 14.28 per cent, which was higher than the national average. The Kolkata Dock System (KDC) has however, posted a negative growth of 13.74 per cent.

Tuticorin sees rise in traffic handling Q1 '02-03 Tuticorin Port has registered a 20 per cent increase, at 33 .54 lakh tonnes, much higher than all-India average of 13.8 per cent in the first quarter of current fiscal compared to corresponding period of the 2001-02. Almost all the major commodities handled at the port have contributed to the improved performance, with fertilizer raw materials and thermal coal recording a growth of 47 and 18 per cent respectively.

News on Logistics

World Bank report says India is slow on transport sector reforms In a recently released monograph on India's transport sector, the World Bank has said that India has been slow in reforming its transport sector compared to other countries of the world. The report has noted that India's progress on institutional reform in transport sector has varied in different sub-sectors, with roads and ports moving ahead steadily, while railways and urban transports sectors falling far behind. The monograph notes that the reform process is likely to confront "some tough political and institutional constraints", unless there is continuous and steady increase in the political will for reform and emergence of transport users and stakeholders as key agents and pressure groups for change.

News on Commodity Trade

Palm oil imports decline in June According to Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) the share of palm oil during June 2002 has declined by 63 per cent to 2,72,981tonnes, lower than 75 per cent share it recorded in May 2002. Consequently the share of other vegetable oils has moved up to 38 per cent in June 2002 from 25 per cent share in May 2002. The decline in palm oil imports is attributed to increase in import duty , which became effective since May 2002. India imported 2.2 million tonnes of edible oils during July October (2002), considered to be high consumption period, which aggregated to total 4.8 million tonnes of import, which was same as previous year.

India's tea exports facing tough competition India's tea exports have drastically declined from 34 per cent of the total world tea trade in 1980 to 16 percent ion 2001. India's tea exports in this period have declined from 2.25 lakh tonnes in 1980 to 1.80 lakh tonnes in 2001. In the same period India's international competitors in world tea trade like China and Kenya have increased their share to 2.49 and 2.58 lakh tonnes from 1.08 and 0.7 lakh tonnes.

Rice exports affected by FCI curbs on road movement With the Food Corporation of India (FCI) disallowing the movement of rice by road and instead insisting on rail movements, the export movement of rice at the Kandla port have been seriously affected. About 0.3 million tonnes of rice that was to have been carried by 15 vessels of 20,000 tonne capacity each during the last two months have been delayed, with the railways failing to supply rice in time for pre-export processing. The FCI stricture on road movement of rice sold to exporters at subsidized rates from being sold in the domestic market at higher prices for making profits.