India Peru to hold second round of FTA talk, may boost textiles
India and Peru will hold next round of talks for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) in the South American nation this week to boost two-way commerce between the countries. According to a government press release, officials from commerce ministry are in Peru for the second round of negotiations for the pact.
The India Peru FTA assumes importance between two countries to reduce or eliminate duties on most of the goods traded between them besides relaxing norms and rules to promote trade in services and increase bilateral investments.
Amid uncertainties in its traditional markets, including the US and Europe, India has been looking to enhance its engagements with countries in Africa, South America and Central Asia. Exporters body Federation of India Export Organisations pointed that Peru holds huge potential for exports and a FTA would boost exports.
“India should look at South American market aggressively as Peru is also a member of MERCOSUR (a six Country trade bloc with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay as its members),” FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai said.
For India, Peru is the third largest market for Indian goods in the Latin America and Carribbean region with trade between the two is worth US$1.77 billion.
The 10 top commodities in India’s exports to Peru include, motor vehicle, cars, iron and steel products, cotton yarn and fabrics. In imports bulk commodities include minerals and ores, gold, fertilizer and zinc.
India’s Textile Export to Peru
In textiles, export to Peru is worth US$13 million per month accounting for 1.85% of India’s total exports of basic textiles, including US$9 million worth of spun yarns, US$2 million of filament yarns, US$1.2 million of woven fabric and US$0.5 million of manmade fibre.
Major export textile items exported to Peru are cotton yarn, polyester DTY, poly/cotton yarn and PSF among primary products and plain fabric, denim, and suiting among woven fabric.
Source: Textile Beacon’s Export Statistics reports