Senior govt officials, exporters to discuss Red Sea crisis
Representatives of several ministries and exporters will meet top officials of the commerce ministry on Friday to discuss the impact of the ongoing Red Sea crisis on Indian exporters, a person aware of the matter said.
The meeting will be chaired by commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal, the person added.
This is the third meeting that the government has called since the crisis erupted last November.
Yemen-based Houthi rebels have launched drone and missile attacks on commercial ships at the southern tip of the Red Sea in reprisal for Israeli bombing of Gaza. This has prompted many shipping companies to suspend operations in the Red Sea, and opt for longer routes around Africa to their destinations in West Asia and Europe.
This has significantly increased the cost of transportation, hurting Indian exporters.
The Red Sea corridor is one of the world’s busiest cargo transit points, with about 12% of international merchandise trade passing through it, according to estimates. A large volume of Indian exports to Europe and West Asia travels through this corridor.
A commerce ministry spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to emailed queries.
In April 2023 the World Trade Organization (WTO) had forecast that merchandise trade volumes would likely grow 1.7% that year.
However, disruptions in the Red Sea region coupled with a global economic slowdown will likely lead to a less than 0.8% increase, well short of the WTO’s April projection, the organisation’s chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi last week.
WTO’s projection of 3.3% growth in overall global trade in 2024 remains steady. It is now preparing to updated the global trade forecast, which is expected to be released in March, Okonjo-Iweala said.