Argentina, India to take up agri exports issues.

New Delhi: Agriculture minister of Argentina Julian Dominguez would visit New Delhi on Monday to strengthen bilateral trade between the two countries. Apart from meeting his counterpart, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, discussing export of soy oil, pulses and food processing technologies, Dominguez is expected to ink three major agreements during the visit.

India has replaced China as the biggest importer of Argentine soybean oil after April when Beijing banned Argentine soybean oil imports in retaliation for anti-dumping probes on products ranging from elevators to textiles.

Talking to FE from Buenos Aires, Indian ambassador to Argentina Rengaraj Viswanathan said, “There is a huge demand of edible oils in India and Argentina has a surplus production. Hence, chances of India becoming the main buyer of Argentine soybean oil are high.”

It is to be noted that soy oil imports stood at 20,00,000 tonne in 2002, rising to 80,00,000 tonne in 2009 and 17,00,000 million tonne in 2010. India is expected to import 1,70,00,000 tonne soy oil by 2021.

“If China continued to restrict shipments, Argentina can sell its soybean oil to India,” Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner told Chinese executives at the Shanghai World Exhibition last month.

Beijing in May told companies, including grain trader Cofco, that buyers should seek Brazilian and US supplies. China, too, has an excellent soy crop and has increased significantly its soy-oil processing capacity.

“The trade between us needs to be equal and beneficial to both sides” the Argentine leader had responded to a question in Shanghai. “We are now selling soybeans and soybean oil to India”. According to MEA officials, leaders from agriculture, communications, information technology, farm machinery and food processing sectors would visit Argentina in September to deepen bilateral trade.

Their visit would be followed by Indian vegetable oil importers and solvent extractors delegation which would tap the Argentine industry for joint ventures and investments in the agri business, the officials added.

An Inter-American Development Bank research report said last week that India could become a potential buyer of agricultural and mineral products of Latin America and the Caribbean, given New Delhi’s rising buying power.

With a 1.1-billion population and facing a lack of raw materials, India is poised to become a big buyer of agricultural and mineral products, main export resources of Latin America, the research — India: Opportunities and challenges for Latin America— said.

The report argued that demand for Latin America’s natural resources should be strong enough to send bilateral...

Source : financialexpress.com