Freight Rose, India Leather And Other Products Export Blocked

Shipping costs are surging, the US and European markets are sluggish, Western markets are sluggish in building and real estate business, and export restrictions are limited. Therefore, the competitiveness of India exporters is weakened.

Of the companies surveyed by the India Federation of industry and Commerce (FICCI) export, 75% of the companies felt India was unable to complete the export target of US $200 billion for 2008-09.

FICCI's latest export survey showed a surge in oil prices, leading to a surge in shipping costs, which seriously damaged the competitiveness of India exporters to undertake long-term export orders.

Some companies say their American Importers are considering increasing the intensity of their purchases from Canada, Mexico and other Latin American countries.

323 companies took part in the survey.

These companies are all over the country. Their turnover ranges from 10 million rupees to 200 billion rupees. These companies come from automobiles, consumer durables, food and food processing, leather, seafood, jewellery diamonds, fast moving consumer goods industry, textiles, handicrafts, gold and metal processing, heavy engineering, IT, pharmaceutical and chemical products.

The companies surveyed said that the price of oil and oil producing materials increased substantially, increasing their production costs.

Transportation costs of raw materials and finished products are also rising, which has increased the pressure of exporters.

But more importantly, in this context, the ocean freight rate has increased significantly.

Some companies say that the substantial increase in ocean freight has seriously weakened the competitiveness of the company, especially the competitiveness of long-term export orders.

The survey shows that despite the depreciation of the rupee since the beginning of 2008, India exporters' worries about the recent export performance have not been alleviated.

Exporters have made it clear that the effect of the rupee's long-term appreciation remains intact. They will wait for some time to observe the impact of the rupee depreciation on exports.