US Exports On Track To Double In Five Years

Top U.S. trade officials said Monday exports are on track to double over the next five years, in line with the goal set by President Barack Obama.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said the "aggressive" target will be a challenge to achieve, but that boosting sales of U.S. products abroad will serve as a necessary counter-weight to slowing consumer spending at home.

"These challenging times demand nothing less," Locke said in a prepared speech to an export summit in Richmond, Va.

"With millions of Americans out of work, and our competitors in Europe and Asia increasingly competing with us for the same customers, we can't simply keep doing what we've done in the past and hope things get better," he said.

Locke said the administration is on track to meet its goal with exports up 17.9% in the year to July, at a little over $1 billion.

Exports would have to increase by about 15% a year to increase two-fold in five years, though critics point out that the administration is using as its base year 2009, when sales abroad were at a three-year low below $1.6 billion.

The Export-Import Bank, which has focused on expanding financing to small and medium-size exporters, has also topped the previous year's amount of credit authorizations with one month to go in the fiscal year. It had authorized $21.5 billion in financing so far through July, following a total of $21 billion in fiscal 2009.

Fred Hochberg, Ex-Im Bank chairman and president, was scheduled to speak at the event with Locke. In a statement late Friday, he said this year's financing has supported an estimated 200,000 jobs.

"Again we are heartened by the export increase, which shows a growing appetite for U.S.-made goods and services, and that translates to more American jobs," Hochberg said.

The two officials, who are part of the president's export promotion cabinet, were speaking ahead of the first meeting of an advisory council made up of business and labor leaders later this week.
Source: http://bit.ly/buHCRn

Horticulture strategic to export sector growth: Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's horticultural sector is essential to economic recovery and is strategic in respect of the enhancement of the country's export receipts.

Local horticultural production includes products such as cut flowers, fruit and tropical fruit, and out of season fruit and vegetables. At its peak during the late 1990s horticulture was the second largest agricultural foreign exchange earner after tobacco, recording exports figures in 1999 of US$144 million.

During that period horticulture contributed an average of 4 percent to Growth Domestic Product. However, like any other sector in Zimbabwe it has suffered from the macro-economic strictures that resulted from the decade long downturn, and has reflected in a fluctuating trend over the years.

Nonetheless, with the 2010 agricultural sector reflecting a steady growth path augmented by ramped up tobacco output, the horticulture sector is also expected to be bullish by the close of this year.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation, and Irrigation Development, the horticulture sector output could hit the 43 000 tonne mark up from the 2009 figure of 35 000 tonnes, in line with the 18,8 percent projected growth for the year.

As aforementioned horticulture is quite strategic to the growth of the country's export sector as most of its products tend to be destined for the European market, but it is also important in another key economic area, that is, labour. In so far as the horticulture sector is labour intensive - on average any one new horticultural project can add 25 to 30 jobs per hectare - hence growth of the sector can simultaneously function to boost employment levels.

These requirements are constituted in the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (also known as the SPS Agreement) is an international treaty of the World Trade Organisation.

Under the SPS agreement, the WTO determines limitations on member-states' policies relating to food safety around issues such as bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection, labelling and animal and plant health (phytosanitary).

According to ZimTrade, during the ten year period between 1999 and 2008, Zimbabwean horticulture's export receipts declined by around 80 percent, from US$144 million in 1999 to US$24 million, this in contrast to an consistently expanding global horticulture market.
Source: http://bit.ly/aGxyZz

U.S. Exports Rise 17.9 Percent in First Seven Months of 2010

Exports of U.S. goods and services increased 17.9 percent during the first seven months of 2010, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Commerce Department. The United States remains on track to meet President Obama's goal of doubling exports and supporting two million American jobs over the next five years.

"Again we are heartened by the export increase, which shows a growing appetite for U.S.-made goods and services, and that translates to more American jobs," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "For its part, Ex-Im Bank has authorized $21.5 billion in export financing and supported an estimated 200,000 U.S. jobs this fiscal year to date. We will continue to widen our outreach to U.S. businesses large and small, to help them grow their profits through exports."

President Barack Obama's National Exports Initiative is a government-wide effort to put the United States on a path to sustained economic growth by doubling exports and creating 2 million jobs by 2015. To support this effort, Ex-Im Bank is continuing to expand its outreach efforts and make its financing products accessible to more exporters.

Ex-Im Bank, an independent, self-sustaining federal-government agency, provides export financing that helps strengthen U.S. export competitiveness, and creates and maintains U.S. jobs. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees to help small and medium-sized U.S. businesses, export-credit insurance to protect exporters against nonpayment by foreign buyers, and loan guarantees and direct loans to assist foreign buyers of U.S. goods and services.

In fiscal year 2009, overall Ex-Im Bank financing totaled $21 billion, and authorizations supporting small-business exports reached a historic high of $4.4 billion, nearly 21 percent of total authorizations.

In the first 11 months of FY 2010 (through August 2010), Ex-Im Bank authorized $21.5 billion in loans, guarantees and insurance.
source: http://bit.ly/ce8E9f

Five-Month High on Import Demand: Sugar and Cocoa also rises

Sugar extended gains, climbing to a five-month high, on speculation that countries including Indonesia, Russia and Pakistan will import more sweetener as adverse weather curbs production. Cocoa also rose.

Sugar importers in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest buyer, may miss a target due to heavy rains, the government said Aug. 19. Russia’s production may be 20 percent smaller than forecast because of drought, and Pakistan said it may start buying the sweetener by December to make up for crop losses due to flooding.

“Supply conditions remain tight,” said Bruno Zaneti, a risk-management consultant at FCStone Group in Campinas, Brazil. “Also, funds are actively buying.”

Raw sugar for October delivery rose 0.12 cent, or 0.6 percent, to settle at 20.07 cents a pound at 2 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier, it touched 20.14 cents, the highest price for a most-active contract since March 10.

Refined-sugar futures for October delivery gained $2.40, or 0.4 percent, to $577.80 a metric ton on NYSE Liffe in London. The gain was the eighth straight, the longest rally since June 16.

“We have very low stocks of sugar around the world, and we have a number of weather problems that are threatening to affect production,” said Jonathan Kingsman, the managing director of Kingsman SA, a researcher and broker in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators increased their net-long positions in sugar futures in New York by 6.6 percent in the week ended Aug. 17 from a week earlier, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Cocoa futures for December delivery rose $7, or 0.2 percent, to close at $2,834 a metric ton at 12:03 p.m. in New York.

In London, cocoa futures for September delivery gained 29 pounds, or 1.4 percent, to 2,090 pounds ($3,247) a ton, rising for the first time in seven sessions.
Source: http://bit.ly/9NJdDu

Cotton Exports Without Licenses in India

the world's second-largest cotton supplier, will allow cotton exports without mandatory licenses from the next marketing year starting Oct. 1, a government order said Tuesday, likely boosting the country's shipment and prices. But the contracts for cotton exports will have to be registered with the Textile Commissioner before shipments are made, the government order said.
The government currently controls cotton exports by granting licenses for individual shipments and gets an export tax of INR2,500 per metric ton. "Exporters are going to be active, which means the market is going to be strong. Prices will firm further up in the local market," said A. Ramani, joint secretary of the South India Cotton Association.
Cotton prices in India surged 12% in August to hit a record INR33,000 ($709.7) per 356 kilograms Tuesday, extending a rally from last month when the government allowed exports of around one million bales of 170 kg each that had been stuck because of a ban, said two senior industry officials. Ramani said the unrestricted export policy will boost the supplies to China and Pakistan, which has been hit by floods. China is the largest importer of Indian cotton by volume, accounting for more than 70% of shipments, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand.
India in May 2010 lifted the month-long ban on cotton exports, but put in place stringent export rules by introducing a licensing system as the government wanted to strike a balance between adequate cotton supplies to local mills and fair returns to farmers. According to official data, traders shipped 7.38 million bales from Oct. 1 to July 31, boosted by a recovery in global demand. Before the ban was briefly imposed in April, exporters had contracted to ship 8.52 million bales.
In the last marketing year that ended Sept. 30, the country's cotton exports fell 60% from a year earlier to 3.5 million bales amid the global economic downturn. Ramani said Indian cotton, despite running high in the physical market, is still cheaper than any other globally competitive variety and buyers will definitely turn to India to source their requirement.
Source: http://bit.ly/a8b2iR

United States Stands to Gain Wheat Forfeited by Russia

The United States stands to gain a good share of the wheat export market that Russia is forfeiting due to the Russian government's decision to halt grain exports until the end of the year, according to John Anderson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The Agriculture Department yesterday released its August World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates or WASDE report. In the report, USDA projected a huge drop in Russian wheat exports for the 2010-2011 marketing year: 3 million metric tons, compared to 18.5 million metric tons, in the 2009-2010 marketing year. Russia decided to exit the grain export market this year because of a serious drought that is reducing crop prospects.

"This is a jaw dropping reduction in exports for Russia," Dr Anderson said. "And because the United States is expecting a good wheat crop with good stock levels, our farmers stand to take up a big share of wheat exports that would have gone to Russia." Read more

Supreme Court: Secondary Packing is not Part of Excise

In a breather to the assessees, the Supreme Court has ruled that the cost of secondary packing for the purpose of convenience of customers and transportation of goods cannot be included in the value of the goods for assessment of excise duty.
The court partly allowed the appeal of the assessee , National Leather Cloth Manufacturing. It was engaged in the manufacture of coated fabrics. The price of goods declared by the assessee in the price list, as required under Rule 173C of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 was approved by the Revenue from time to time.
However, in the two revised price lists, of November 12, 1980, the assessee indicated that prices declared by it contained certain post manufacturing expenses, which had to be excluded while computing the value of the fabric for the purpose of assessment to excise duty.
The claim was rejected by the Adjudicating Authority on January 7, 1981. Thereafter, the assessee, made a claim of consolidated refund , amounting to 40,18,805.60 for the period from November 13, 1977 to November 12, 1980, representing differential excess duty paid by it on various elements of post manufacturing expenses.
One of the deductions so claimed was on account of cost of material used for packing the final product. The Central Excise department did not responded to such claim. Then, the assessee, moved the Bombay High Court seeking direction for refund along with interest. The adjudicating authority on April 12, 1984, rejected the claim for excluding the cost of polythene bags, printed as well as plain, and hessian cloth used for packing the fabrics.
According to department, packing of coated fabrics in polythene bags for delivery to the customers located in Bombay as also packing of such rolls in hessian cloth and stitching them into one bundle for dispatch to up-country customers was in the normal course of trade and, therefore, there was nothing special about such packing so as to exclude its cost from the value of the fabric.
Then assessee amended the petition to challenge the rejection order of the authority. The high court, however, dismissed the petition and affirmed the order of the department. The high court in its order had said, the denial of deduction on account of secondary packaging from the assessable value as post manufacturing expenses was justified. It is not the case of the assessee that the secondary packing was of a durable nature and returned by the buyer to the assessee.
Source: http://bit.ly/chxblS