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Indian and United States officials to look for ways to resolve trade issuesIndia and the United States agreed to look for ways to resolve differences on issues such as market access and digital trade at the start of a two-day visit by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, officials said.Negotiators from both countries have struggled for more than a year to conclude a trade package as New Delhi and Washington spar over a range of issues, including tariffs.Accompanied in New Delhi by her deputy Ambassador Sarah Bianchi, Tai raised market access restrictions, high tariffs, unpredictable regulations and restricted digital trade between the two countries."These are issues where we intent to make progress and they will be on the top of my list during the visit," Tai told Indian officials at a dinner hosted by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.The meeting follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington in September."We have been uniquely tasked by our leaders, PM Modi and President (Joe) Biden, to strengthen our economic ties and trade based on transparency and fairness," Goyal said at the dinner.There was huge potential for growth in areas such as digital economy, health services and agriculture, Tai said.Both countries have agreed to revive their Trade Policy Forum, after a gap of four years. The revived forum could help expand bilateral trade that has never seemed to live up to its potential, Tai said.India is also working on ways to release national reserves of crude oil in tandem with the United States and other major economies in response to a request from Biden, Reuters reported earlier, citing government sources.An announcement could come as early as Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the discussions. White House and U.S. Energy Department officials said no official decision on a release had been made.

Full closure in Tirupur on 26th condemning yarn price riseCoimbatore: The price of yarn has risen by over 130 rupees since last January. The price of yarn, which was Rs.220 per kg, is now over Rs.350. There has also been an environment where yarn is available on a waiting basis by booking. Exports, domestic knitwear and textile production is severely affected due to the continuous rise in prices and exporters have suffered huge losses.The reason for the increase in yarn prices is said to be artificial shortage due to export and hoarding of raw materials like cotton. Therefore, a resolution was passed on behalf of the Tirupur Exporters and Manufacturers Association at an emergency consultation meeting in Tirupur. At the meeting it was decided that to slip into a complete shutdown and a hunger strike on the 26th, condemning the rise in yarn prices and calling for a ban on the export of raw materials such as cotton.

Rupee rumbles against dollar, 9 paise open weakRupee opened with weakness today against the dollar in the foreign exchange market. Today the rupee opened with a weakness of 9 paise at Rs 74.48 against the dollar. At the same time, on Monday, the rupee declined by 15 paise to close at Rs 74.39 against the dollar.

Poor start in the Sensex, falling 520 points to openToday the stock market opened with a fall. Today the BSE Sensex fell by about 519.70 points and opened at the level of 57946.19 points.

*PAKISTAN COTTON MARKET UPDATE**Spot rate stable amid lean business**The Spot Rate remained unchanged at Rs 17500 per maund on the cotton market on Monday.**The Spot Rate remained unchanged at Rs 17500 per maund. The Polyester Fiber was available at Rs 250 per kg.**Cotton Analyst Naseem Usman told that market remained steady and the trading volume remained low. He also said that that rate of quality cotton rate reached at the highest level of Rs 18000 per maund while the rate of Phutti reached at Rs 8800 per 40 g.**He said rate of cotton in Sindh remained between Rs 14500 to Rs 18000 per maund and the rate of cotton in Punjab was registered at Rs 16400 to Rs 18000 per maund. The rate of the new crop of Phutti in Sindh was remained between Rs 5500 to Rs 7,900 per 40 kg. While Phutti prices in Punjab were between Rs 5,800 to Rs 8400 per 40 kg.**Similarly, prices of cotton in Balochistan were remained at Rs 14500 to 16,500 per maund while Phutti prices were high as compared to other two provinces which were Rs 6,300 to 8800 per maund, said Naseem Usman.**The rate of Banola in Sindh was in between Rs 1,350 to Rs 2200 per maund. While in Punjab rates of Banola were in between Rs 1,650 to Rs 2,200 per maund.**As many as 200 bales of Sarkand were sold at Rs 16000 per maund, 200 bales of Yazman Mandi, 100 bales of Haroonabad were sold at Rs 16500 per maund and 400 bales of Rahim Yar Khan were sold at Rs 18000 per maund.**The value-added textile export sector profoundly appreciates the government thoughtfulness to ensure uninterrupted supply to the export industries during winter season.*

*All India Weather Forecast for November 23, 2021**Weather systems made across the country*A Deep Low Pressure Area now lies over Southeast and adjoining East Central Arabian Sea. The associated cyclonic circulation is extending up to the middle troposphere level.A trough from the cyclonic circulation associated with a low pressure area over Arabian Sea is extending up to Maharashtra coast.The Cyclonic Circulation lies over South Andaman Sea and adjoining region.*Weather movement across the country during the last 24 hours*During the last 24 hours, isolated heavy rain with isolated light to moderate rain occurred over parts of Chhattisgarh and Coastal Andhra Pradesh.Light to moderate rain at isolated places occurred over Mumbai and suburbs.Light to moderate rain occurred over remaining parts of Chhattisgarh, parts of East Madhya Pradesh, Coastal Karnataka, North Coastal Tamil Nadu and parts of Madhya Maharashtra.Light rain occurred at isolated places over North Interior Tamil Nadu, Interior Karnataka, parts of Telangana, Vidarbha, Marathwada, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.*Weather activity likely during next 24 hours*During the next 24 hours, light to moderate rain with isolated heavy falls is likely over parts of Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Coastal Andhra Pradesh.Light to moderate rain is possible at isolated parts of Andhra Pradesh, parts of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Interior Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.Light rain may occur at one or two places over South Odisha and parts of Sikkim, Assam and Lakshadweep.During the next two to three days, the minimum temperature in Northwest and Central India is likely to drop by 2-4 degrees.

Finance Ministry notifies 12% GST rate on MMF, yarn, fabrics from January 1: corrects duty anomalyThe finance ministry has notified uniform 12 per cent GST rate on manmade fibre (MMF), yarn, fabrics and apparel, thereby addressing the inverted tax structure in the MMF textile value chain.Currently, tax rate on MMF, MMF yarn and MMF fabrics is 18 per cent, 12 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively.The taxation of inputs at higher rates than finished products created build up of credits and cascading costs. It further led to accumulation of taxes at various stages of the MMF value chain and blockage of crucial working capital for the industry.The GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state finance ministers, had in its previous meeting on September 17 decided that the inverted duty anomalies in the textile sector would be corrected from January 1, 2022.Giving effect to this decision, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on November 18 notified 12 per cent GST rate for MMF, MMF yarn and MMF fabrics.Experts said though there is a provision in GST law to claim the unutilised Input Tax Credit (ITC) as a refund, there were other complications and resulted in more compliance burden. The inverted tax structure caused an effective increase in the rate of taxation of the sector.The world textiles trade has been moving towards MMF but India was not able to take advantage of the trend as its MMF segment was throttled by the inverted tax regime, they said, adding the correction in duty anomaly will help the segment grow and emerge as a big job provider.EY Tax Partner Bipin Sapra said the rate changes in the textile industry is the first of the changes promised by the GST Council with an aim to rectify inverted duty structure and bring an efficient tax structure for a given sector.

Weak start in the stock market, Sensex slips more than 400 pointsOn Monday, the first day of the trading week, the stock market has started with a fall. Sensex is showing a weakness of 400 points while Nifty is showing weakness of 100 points.

Price may be at record high this season, but cotton arrival in Punjab mandis slowest in five yearsThe arrival of cotton, the second biggest kharif crop in Punjab, has been slowest in the last five years, indicating a drastic fall in production this season.Even as the price of the ‘white gold’ showed a record-breaking upward trend this season due to high demand in the international textiles sector, markets in Punjab continue to have lesser raw produce.Experts attribute poor production to the pink bollworm attack in the cotton-producing districts of Bathinda, Mansa and pockets of Sangrur and Barnala district. According to the assessment made by the state revenue department and field inspections by the agriculture authorities, the standing crop in the four districts was severely hit.However, the crop was not affected in other cotton-producing districts, Fazilka and Muktsar.Quoting the ongoing arrival trend, state authorities say Punjab this time may find it challenging to touch even 50% of the 50 lakh quintal cotton produced in 2020-21. Punjab Mandi Board data shows 7.98-lakh quintal cotton was purchased in nine districts till November 18 as compared to 16 lakh quintal for the corresponding period last year.In 2016-17, 9.16-lakh quintal crop was purchased in various mandis whereas 9.15-lakh quintal was recorded in south Punjab districts in 2017-18. More than 10 lakh quintal cotton was sold each in 2018 and 2019.Officials said this is the only bad season since 2015-16 when the crop was hit by a widespread infestation of whitefly. That season, 6.38-lakh quintal cotton arrived in mandis till November 18 whereas the total production was about 21 lakh quintals. Cotton was purchased by private buyers between ₹5,300-6,195 per quintal that year.This season, the crop touched a record-breaking rate ₹10,500 per quintal on November 1. Punjab Mandi Board cotton state coordinator Rajnish Goel said it is unlikely that farmers could be holding back the cotton stock as the prevalent prices offered by private players is exceptional.Industry sources say there were strong feelers that rates would start dropping after the first week of November as cotton picking in southern states gained momentum.

*All India Weather Forecast for November 22, 2021**Weather systems made across the country*There is a deep low pressure area over the east-central Arabian Sea and the associated cyclonic circulation extending up to about 5.8 km above mean sea level.A trough is extending from a cyclonic circulation associated with a low pressure area over East Central Arabian Sea to Southeast Rajasthan across Gujarat.A cyclonic circulation lies over South Interior Karnataka and adjoining region, extending up to 5.8 km above mean sea level.*Weather movement across the country during the last 24 hours*The minimum temperature has dropped by 2-3 degrees over Northwest India.During the last 24 hours, light to moderate rain with isolated heavy falls occurred over Tamil Nadu, North Interior Karnataka, Goa, Kerala and Coastal Karnataka.Light to moderate rains occurred over parts of North Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and South Madhya Pradesh.Light rain occurred over East Rajasthan, remaining parts of Madhya Pradesh, Central and East Uttar Pradesh, parts of Jharkhand, Konkan and Goa, parts of Vidarbha, Marathwada, Madhya Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.*Weather activity likely during next 24 hours*During the next 24 hours, light to moderate rain with one or two heavy spells is likely over Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema and Karnataka.Moderate rain with light rain may occur at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, parts of Kerala, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Telangana and Chhattisgarh.Isolated light rain is possible over Vidarbha, South Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

India records close to 15% rise in export of agricultural, processed food products in April-OctoberIn a major boost to export prospects of agricultural produce, India registered a significant surge in export of agricultural and processed food products in the April-October period of the current Financial Year, 2021-22, in comparison to the corresponding seven month period of last fiscal, 2020-21.According to the quick estimates released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), the overall export of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) products witnessed 14.7 per cent growth in terms of USD during April-October 2021 over the same period of the previous year.The overall export of APEDA products increased from USD 10,157 million in April-October 2020 to USD 11,651 million in April-October 2021.The significant jump in exports of agricultural and processed food products during the first seven months of current fiscal is in continuation of growth in exports witnessed in the financial year 2020-21.India reported a significant 85.4 per cent jump in export of other cereals while the export of meat, dairy & poultry products witnessed an increase 15.6 per cent in the first seven months of the current fiscal (2021-22).The export of other cereals increased from USD 274.98 million in April-October 2020 to USD 509.77 million in April-October 2021 and the export of meat, dairy and poultry products increased from USD 1978.6 million in April-October 2020 to USD 2286.32 million in April-October 2021.The rise in export of agricultural and processed food products is because of APEDA’s various initiatives taken for the export promotion of agricultural and processed food products such as organizing B2B exhibitions in different countries, exploring new potential markets through product-specific and general marketing campaigns by active involvement of Indian Embassies.The APEDA has also taken several initiatives to promote products having registered geographical indications (GI) in India by organizing virtual Buyer Seller Meets on agricultural and food products with UAE and on GI products, including handicrafts with USA. APEDA is continuing with the initiative of conducting Virtual Buyer Seller Meets (VBSM) with potential importing Countries to popularize the GI products of major agricultural commodities exported.In order to ensure seamless quality certification of products to be exported, APEDA has recognized 220 labs across India to provide services of testing to a wide range of products and exporters.APEDA also assists in upgradation and strengthening of recognized laboratories for export testing and residue monitoring plans. APEDA also provides assistance under the financial assistance schemes of infrastructure development, quality improvement and market development for boosting export of agricultural products.For boosting exports, APEDA compiles and disseminates various international trade analytical information, market access information amongst exporters and address trade enquiries.