BHUBANESWAR: Odisha, which currently stands at the 13th spot among exporting States in the country, is looking to diversify its global market base and reach out to new countries to attain its goal of ` one lakh crore exports by 2025. The draft Odisha Export Policy 2017, which has been prepared by Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), looks at expanding the export presence.
Currently, the State has export presence in 61 out of 99 commodity chapters as classified by Director General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics. Out of them, the draft document says, some products occupy a larger share of exports which need attention.
Designated as focus areas, these sectors - marine, mineral and metals, chemicals and textiles - constituted 95 per cent in the exports basket in 2015 with a total value of about `20,000 crore.
The FIEO has taken into account the global export trends in different sectors and how India can fit into the scheme of the importing countries.
In marine sector, it is looking at Spain, Italy and South Korea as next destinations. Denmark, UK, Germany, Sweden, Australia and Switzerland are also on its radar.
For the mineral sector, the policy wants to look away from China and Iran which happen to be big importers from India and the State enjoys a fair share.
“It is observed that the focus sectors of the State have a strong presence in some of the conventional markets like USA, UK, UAE and China. However, it is important to pursue market diversification strategies to expand in other markets where the import trend has been encouraging like Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada and Russian Federation,” says the document.
It wants to tap the markets of Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Qatar, Turkey, USA, South Korea for ores, slag and ash; Germany, Spain and France for ferro-chromium carbon; Germany, Turkey, Italy, Holland and Belgium for aluminium and USA, Russian Federation, Canada, Italy, France, China, Chinese Taipei for ceramic products.
In the chemicals sector including inorganic chemicals, organic and inorganic compounds of precious metals, rare-earth metals, radioactive elements, the policy document looks at Russian Federation, Canada, Norway, Iceland, Bahrain and Qatar as the destinations. For textiles and cotton, South Korea and Mexico are being targeted.
The draft says that certain product groups hold immense export potential but their current export value is very low. “Such items may help the State diversify its export basket and boost overall volume. The tie and dye handloom, handicrafts, silver filigree, rubber, coconut, vegetables, cereals, and spices like ginger, turmeric and pepper are being projected as potential sectors. Software is another area that carries huge potential.