August 2, 2010

Argentina eyes Indian agri exports market

Argentina's Agriculture Minister Julian Dominguez is expected to ink three major agreements during a visit to New Delhi to strengthen trade as well as discuss the export of soyoil, pulses and food processing technologies.

India has replaced China as the biggest importer of Argentine soyoil after April when Beijing banned Argentine soyoil imports in retaliation for anti-dumping probes on products.

Soyoil imports stood at 2 million tonnes in 2002, rising to 8 million tonnes in 2009 and 1.7 million tonnes in 2010. India is expected to import 17 million tonnes of soyoil by 2021.

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 soyoil processing capacity.

According to 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, according to a study.