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Business Standard
16-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
India reviews US push to lift ethanol curbs amid trade deal talks
India is reviewing the United States' (US') request to lift restrictions on ethanol imports as it negotiates a wider trade deal with Washington to avoid punitive tariffs, news agency Bloomberg reported on Friday. The development was confirmed by senior industry officials, who added that the US was intensely lobbying for the same. India at present does not allow imports of ethanol as fuel, and levies hefty duties on such imports for non-fuel purposes. 'Yes, the US has been lobbying for opening up ethanol imports for the past several weeks, but the request should not be heeded, or else all the investments made into putting up the domestic capacities for producing ethanol would come into question,' a senior industry official said. Bloomberg reported that US negotiators want India to allow shipments of the biofuel for blending with gasoline, according to people familiar with the matter, a change from current rules that promote domestic supply and permit overseas purchases of ethanol only for non-fuel use. The lobbying for the opening up of ethanol imports from the US comes at a time when India's ethanol production from sugarcane has fallen behind that from grains for the second successive supply year. In the ethanol supply-year 2024-25 (November to October) till March, oil marketing companies (OMCs) have allocated supplies of around 9.96 billion litre of ethanol. Of this, around 66 per cent will have to come from grains, while the balance will come from sugarcane. Till a few months back, both the feedstocks had supplied equal quantities of ethanol. Meanwhile, the Bloomberg report said that US President Donald Trump said in Qatar on Thursday that New Delhi had offered to abolish all tariffs on US goods — comments that were walked back only hours later by India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who said talks were ongoing. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is set to arrive in the US this weekend for further negotiations. American farmers have been lobbying for access to the world's most populous nation, and high-profile figures like US Vice-President JD Vance have bemoaned trading conditions that have left India 'effectively closed off', the agency reported. The National Corn Growers Association has called on the Trump administration to include corn and corn-based products, such as ethanol and distillers' dried grains, in any trade deal with India. India has been aggressively promoting biofuels. India has achieved almost 20 per cent blending in gasoline in February, five years ahead of its 2030 target. It's pushing for the use of raw materials like sugar cane juice, corn, rotten potatoes, and damaged food grains to make ethanol. India's state-owned oil refiners, meanwhile, are concerned that the US may sell ethanol at low rates to capture the market, only to later raise prices, two of the people said, a move that would hurt their business. According to the oil ministry, these processors plan to lift ethanol purchases by almost 50 per cent from a year earlier to 10 billion litres in the current supply year, which began in November.
Time of India
16-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
India examining US request to abolish curbs on ethanol imports
India is reviewing a US request to lift restrictions on ethanol imports as it negotiates a wider trade deal with Washington to avoid punitive tariffs. US negotiators want the South Asian country to allow shipments of the biofuel for blending with gasoline, according to people familiar with the matter, a change from current rules that promote domestic supply and permit overseas purchases of ethanol only for non-fuel use. India, one of the first countries to begin trade negotiations with the US, has been pushing for an early deal. President Donald Trump said in Qatar on Thursday that New Delhi had offered to abolish all tariffs on US goods — comments that were walked back only hours later by India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who said talks were ongoing. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is set to arrive in the US this weekend for further negotiations. India's commerce ministry did not reply to a request for comment. The oil ministry, which is responsible for regulations around biofuels, also did not respond to emailed questions. American farmers have been lobbying for access to the world's most populous nation, and high-profile figures like Vice President JD Vance have bemoaned trading conditions that have left India 'effectively closed off'. The National Corn Growers Association has called on the Trump administration to include corn and corn-based products, such as ethanol and distillers dried grains, in any trade deal with India. Bloomberg reported last month that trade discussions are likely to cover 19 areas, including farm goods and e-commerce and data storage. Any relaxation of rules by India, however, could undermine the country's efforts to cut a huge energy import bill that leaves it heavily dependent on outside nations and at the mercy of fluctuating markets, the people said. They asked not to be named as the discussions are not public. India has been aggressively promoting biofuels in large part to reduce this vulnerability. The world's third-largest oil buyer achieved almost 20% blending in gasoline in February, five years ahead of its 2030 target. It's pushing for the use of raw materials like sugar cane juice, corn, rotten potatoes and damaged food grains to make ethanol. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration is also likely to worry about the impact on farmers of unlimited imports of green fuel, the people said. The government has been encouraging producers, a powerful voting bloc, to a shift away from water-intensive crops and toward alternatives like corn, a key ethanol feedstock. State-owned oil refiners, meanwhile, are concerned that the US may sell ethanol at low rates to capture the market, only to later raise prices, two of the people said, a move that would hurt their business. According to the oil ministry, these processors plan to lift ethanol purchases by almost 50% from a year earlier to 10 billion liters in the current supply year, which began in November.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Liberation Day' Tariffs Will Liberate People—From Their Income
We're told that "Liberation Day" tariffs on imports from around the world will raise $6 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade, plus another trillion from automobile tariffs. But the only true "liberation" will be us Americans—consumers and taxpayers—being liberated from even more of our hard-earned income. So hold on to your wallet. If you don't believe that Liberation Day is bad news for the overwhelming majority of us, first remember that U.S. consumers are, as always, the ones who pay U.S. tariffs. Whatever the Trump team collects from foreign imports will be shifted back to us in the form of higher prices. Then there is the fact that the administration is already preparing for economic damage control with emergency aid for U.S. farmers. The need for such aid is a tacit admission that the president's trade policy—marketed as a tool to strengthen America—will trigger retaliations from our trading partners that will hurt many American producers, including farmers who export this country's agricultural bounty to help feed the world. And to paper over this destructive policy, the administration will blow another gaping hole in the federal budget with bailout money to compensate the victims. How do I know? We've been here before. During Trump's first term, his trade war with China sparked retaliatory tariffs that cost American farmers an estimated $27 billion in lost agricultural exports. To cushion the blow on farmers, the administration spent $23 billion in bailout payments via the Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation. By one estimate, farmers received 92 percent of the tariffs on Chinese goods paid by us via higher prices at the supermarket. Now the administration is gearing up for a rerun with even higher and broader tariffs, including on allies such as Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Japan. As it turns out, American agriculture is one of the most export-dependent sectors of the economy. When trading partners retaliate, they target farm products like soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton, and pork. Why? Because it's politically sensitive and economically effective. Already, groups like the National Corn Growers Association and the American Soybean Association are bracing for impact. As one member of the latter told The New York Times, farmers don't want handouts but rather "access to a free and fair trade market." What they're getting instead is uncertainty, falling commodity prices, and the very real possibility of being shut out of long-cultivated markets as global buyers turn to Brazil, Argentina, and the European Union. Indeed, before the retaliating even starts, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said the U.S. Department of Agriculture will support farmers while tariffs go into place. The rest of us won't be that lucky. The 2018-20 tariffs raised consumer prices for goods like washing machines, cars, and electronics. According to economists at the Federal Reserve and several universities, American consumers bore nearly the full cost, while protected domestic industries captured only modest benefits. With a much broader set of tariffs now on the table, lower-income families who spend the largest shares of their income on goods—and who have been badly hurt from the recent inflation—will likely suffer the most. That's a dangerous proposition in an economy already wrestling with persistent cost-of-living pressures. Here's where things go from damaging to disastrous: If the administration follows through with both expensive new tariffs and more bailouts while simultaneously extending expiring tax cuts and adding new tax breaks without corresponding spending cuts, the result will be a fiscal black hole. It's true that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency are cutting spending and that the administration is rolling back many of the costly regulations inflicted by the Biden administration. It also wants to free the energy sector and generate more energy abundance. But it will take a long time to realize the benefits of these efforts, if they ever materialize. After all, many of these changes require congressional action, and Congress of late has been missing in action. Trump's tariff strategy is worse than a gamble; it's a sure-fire loser. Experience proves that policies motivated by economic nationalism are all pain and no gain. The details of the long-run damage remain to be revealed. However, in the short term, we know for a fact that Liberation Day will hurt farmers, burden consumers, and further bloat the budget deficit—all oh-so-misleadingly in the name of "America First." What America really needs are open markets, fiscal responsibility, and stable trade relationships—not a rerun and enlargement of the last trade war. COPYRIGHT 2025 The post 'Liberation Day' Tariffs Will Liberate People—From Their Income appeared first on
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Iowa farmers can apply to receive economic relief through the USDA
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — The American Relief Act of 2025 provided a $31 billion disaster aid package for farmers across the country and applications are open for them to get access to this support. The legislation was passed in December 2024 and set aside $21 billion for natural disaster assistance and $10 billion in aid for farmers who experienced economic losses while growing 2024 commodities. This legislation also extended provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill through September 2025. Evacuation/shelter in place order issued because of Otley co-op fire The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation's President Brent Johnson is a fifth-generation farmer in the state. He said that the 2024 crop year was difficult for Iowa farmers because they saw increasing costs for land, seeds, fertilizer and other crop protection services, equipment, and more. He also said that several weather events across the state and recent tariffs have negatively affected Iowa farmers. 'There's a lot of things that are not in a farmer's control. So, when those things do happen, storms, drought, too much rain, it really does affect the ability for farmers to make money. And you couple that up with some significant trade disruptions and it becomes really unstable for the farm economy,' Johnson said. He also said that trade plays a vital role in Iowa's economy. 'We are really dependent on exporting and selling these commodities. We out-produce the needs of Iowans ourselves. So, we have to trade. We have to sell it to others. So anytime those trade conversations end up being unsettling, it ends up making farmers nervous at the farm gate,' he said. According to the National Corn Growers Association, two main factors have challenged the market. They include higher input costs and a growing corn supply. A higher input cost means that production expenses have remained high despite declining corn prices. This is similar to Johnson's point that inflation has increased expenses for farmers. Some Warren County residents concerned over skyrocketing property evaluations Furthermore, a growing corn supply creates more competition for Iowa farmers. More corn producers are available in the United States and outside the country, in places like Brazil. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced the relief application. It's called the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program. They also shared the per-acre payment rates for 21 different crops. Corn is $42.91 per acre and soybeans are $29.76 per acre. Farmers can access the application for this relief at their local FSA office or online. While Johnson said this relief is helpful to farmers, he is hopeful a new Farm Bill will be passed that will create more stability for farmers in the future. What to know about possible overnight severe weather 'Have you ever seen Chris Street play?': McCollum aims to create defensive identity at Iowa Some Warren County residents concerned over skyrocketing property evaluations First responder cancer coverage bill advances through Iowa Senate subcommittee No tax on tips and overtime wages pushed for by Iowa House Democrats Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
