Oilseeds Body May Make Deal Registration Must

KOLKATA: Indian Oilseeds and Produce Exporters’ Association (IOPEA), which has been assigned as an export promotion council (EPC) for a number of oilseeds and oils by the commerce ministry, intends to play a meaningful role in keeping tabs on exports of those items. In this role, IOPEA is looking to introduce a system for compulsory registration of export contracts with it by its member-exporters.

Since IOPEA is not in a position to force member exporters to go in for compulsory registration of their export contracts with it, the EPC has requested the ministry to empower it to go ahead with the plan. The need to introduce a compulsory registration system at the EPC level stems from the urgency of getting updated figures on exports of oilseeds and vegetable oils from the country.

In the absence of such a facility, such data is available only from DGCI&S, which is usually six months old. Given the information gap, if the government approves the IOPEA proposal, the association while fulfilling the role of an EPC will also be able to keep the government, industry and traders posted on the latest export figures of those items, said IOPEA president Sanjay Shah.

At present, the practice of compulsory registration of export contracts are being followed in case of exports of groundnut and sesame seeds to EU countries and Russia. For exports of groundnut bound for EU, exporters have to compulsorily register export contracts with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda).

Plus, they are required to furnish a quality certificate to EU importers for determination of Aflatoxin level as per the EU norm. The quality certificate has to be secured by exporters from Apeda nominated laboratories/agencies.

As for exports of groundnut and sesame seeds to Russia, the ministry has made it mandatory for exporters to furnish a pre-shipment quality certificate to Russian importers to ascertain levels of pesticide residues in those specified oilseeds. So far, the Russian authority has identified the Delhi-based Sri Ram Institute for Industrial Research (SRIIR) as the competent authority for issuing those preshipment quality certificates.

These systems were put in place after resumption of exports of groundnut and sesame seeds to Russia from September this year. Exports to that country remained suspended from May to August following a controversy which erupted after Russia found traces of non-approved pesticides in Indian cargoes.