Australia's first quarter trade surplus to be boosted by soaring export prices
The Dollar Business Bureau The International Trade Price Index released by Australian Bureau of Statistics for the month of March shows that while import prices remained stable, export prices soared to astonishing highs. Cumulatively, import prices increased by merely 1.2% from the first quarter of the previous year whereas export prices rose by 29.1% over the same period. As against the October-December quarter (2016), import prices experienced a fall of 0.6% while export prices grew by 9.4%. The reason cited for volatile export price movement is a turn in commodities cycle, propelled by commodity prices like those of iron ore reaching $94 per tonne towards the end of February 2017. Australia's metal exports in alumina, iron ore and copper showed a price increase of 18.8% during the January-March 2017 period. This was ...
Zero MEP to have less impact on onion prices, exports
Sai Nikesh | The Dollar Business In second week of December, the government had reduced MEP on onion from $700 per tonne to $400 per tonne In view of sharp decline in onion prices and its adequate supply in domestic market, the government has removed Minimum Export Price (MEP) cap of $400 per tonne to encourage overseas shipments. Experts are of the view that the move is unlikely to affect onion prices in domestic markets as its demand in export market might remain low. “Keeping in view of sharp decline in wholesale prices of onion in producing mandies of Maharashtra and major consuming mandies and huge arrivals of onion, the government decided to reduce the MEP to 'zero' from $400 per ...
