Highlights of Some of the Articles from the Print Edition

In this issue..

Office of the Commissioner of Customs (Seaport) Government of India have said that following a directive from Central Board of Excise and Customs, Department of Revenue, Government of India, dated 25.05.2003, the fields relating to the identity of the Importer/Exporter shall henceforth be removed from all Daily List of Imports/Exports data provided to the subscribers. These changes have been made with effect from June-2003 data onwards.

This means that the countrymen would not know anymore who has imported the product and who has exported the product. Only the name of the products and quantity and price of imported and exported commodities would be publicised.

One would not know as to what is the logic or provocation for the Government's move to make such an announcement. But one thing that is clear is that transparency in the Import and Export trade would suffer considerably due to this ill conceived decision. For proper transparency, it is not only necessary that the Government should know the details, but also the general public and common man.

Industrial units and trading houses and research and development institutions have to be constantly on the look out for various information and data such as relating to import/export and importers/exporters to decide the corporate strategies and business plans. They need to know as to who have imported or exported which material and at what quantity and price. Unless such data would be available, it would not be possible to conduct any meaningful market research and corporate studies, which are necessary for the industrial and economic growth of the country.

Import and export data are primary source of information for any country to judge and assess the course of economy and industrial performance. Information on what raw material/or finished product is imported or exported and the fluctuating figures of imports and exports as well as the players behind would provide the necessary guidelines to assess the scenario and arrive at strategic decisions or conclusions by the industry.

Several industrial units bring out annual reports that contain little information and that they conceal more than what they reveal. Already several of the ports in the country do not publicise import and export figures

Further, such tendencies are bad and show the desire to conceal, perhaps the skeletons in the cupboard.

As a matter of fact, in any healthy economy and forward moving industrial climate, there should be openness and transparency.

On the one hand, the Government is asking the industries to be dynamic and competitive but at the same time, it denies vital data and information to the industry. This is a counterproductive and foolhardy measure of the Government.

Obviously, some senior officials with little understanding of the requirements of the industries and economy or some people interested in concealing information and facts are behind such move of the Government to withhold the names of the importers and exporters from public knowledge.

One only hopes that some one at senior level in the Government of India who have better understanding of the scenario would interfere in the matter and ask the ports to publish the import/export data fully. Further, many of the ports who do not care to publish such data should be asked to do so forthwith.

GENERAL DETAILS

INDIAN MANUFACTURERS

In India, Sorbitol is produced only as 70% solution

Indian Units with installed capacity for Sorbitol 70% solution

Unit presently not in operation but who can technically restart the plant

DEMAND SUPPLY SCENARIO

• Present Import Level Around 500 tonnes per annum
• Present Export Level Around 300 tonnes per annum

Consolidated demand statement for Sorbitol

• Total annual demand 58000 tonnes

Pattern of demand

Prospects

Sorbitol finds variety of applications in number of user sector. The several potential applications of Sorbitol have not yet been adequately exploited in India.

While the demand for Sorbitol is steadily going up, the rate of growth in demand would further increase, if sustained efforts would be taken to promote application of Sorbitol in new directions.

Generics are cheaper copies of medicines that have gone off patent and US patents on many key drugs are set to expire in the next few years.

Global sales of cheap generic drugs will grow twice as fast as the overall pharmaceutical market in the next five years as governments seek to rein in rising healthcare costs, a leading consultant said on June 30th. Several European countries are changing rules to encourage increased use of generics, while the United States wants to bring them to market faster and expand their use under the Medicare state funded health insurance programme for seniors.

Eva Edery of IMS Health predicts that, as a result, sales of generics will grow by an annual 19% over the next five years in seven leading markets - the United States, Canada, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain. In contrast, global sales of all branded and generic medicines combined are projected to increase by nine to 11%. In the US, the world's biggest market, growth of generics is expected to average 20%.

In total, the world's top 20 pharmaceutical companies are set to lose patent protection on products with estimated annual sales of $36 billion by 2007, prompting US managed healthcare groups to maximise the use of cheap alternatives to brands.

Copycat medicines account for 8% of US pharmaceuticals sales in dollar terms but around half the market by volume.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has said that the geochemical mapping of the country is essential to trace hidden mineral wealth, besides utilising the data for application in agricultural, health and environmental issues.

Only 0.3 percent of the 3.28 million sq.km area has been systematically mapped geo-chemically in India, that, too, with a mineral exploration bias. It has become imperative to look for hidden or concealed mineral deposits, which calls for usage and integration of data from diverse domain of geology, geo-chemistry and geo-physics. A precise geochemical map of the country is a pre-requisite for such exercise.

Family: Combretaceae

Synonyms

· Terminalia chebula
· He zi (Chinese)
· Abhaya
· Indian gall-nut
· Myrobalan
Mai-makna , Parga Burmese

Chemical constituents

The principle constituents contain :

· Gallic acid,
· Anthraquinones,
· Chebulagic,
· Chebulinic acid
· Corilagin.
· Palmitic, Stearic, Oleic, Linoleic, Arachidic, Behenic acid.
· Tannic acid

Application

A decoction of Haritaki is used for washing wounds and gargling in diseases of the mouth & throat.

It is useful in loss of appetite

Rhinitis (due to constipation), cough, hoarseness of voice, hiccups and dyspnoea are relieved by Haritaki as it reduces congestion.

It is useful in weakness of nerves and brain

Strategy

The Indian varieties of Haritaki however do not compete well with Chinese and Central Asian varieties for industrial use.

The content of Tannin in Haritaki from Iran and China is found to be higher than locally available ones.

Hence cultivation of high Tannin containing Haritaki has high potential.

SPOTLIGHT ON SPECIALITY CHEMICAL - ASPARTAME

This article discusses the application aspects and process technology as well as Indian import/export trends for Aspartame.

SPOTLIGHT ON ELECTRONIC CHEMICAL
GLOBAL SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY

With world semiconductor production still down from its 2000 peak, most electronic chemicals producers are focused on developing new products with better margins and keeping a keen eye on costs. Semiconductor sales were $140.5 billion in 2002 - 31% below 2000, says consulting firm IC Insights (Scottsdale, AZ).

SINGLE SUPER PHOSPHATE FERTILISER
DECLINING DEMAND

The total number of Single Super Phosphate plants in India was about 119 during year 1994-95, down to 71 plants at the end of March 2003. Out of this, around 19 plants remained idle throughout the year, only 52 plants were effectively in operation during the year 2002-03.

The All India total capacity of SSP is 6.415 million tonnes.

Production of SSP continued to decline and reduced to 2.330 million tonnes during 2002-03 from 2.499 million tonnes in the previous years.

BIODEGRADABLE POLYMER – PHBH

PHBH (poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) is made by fermentation of sugars from corn and sugar beet and palm oil based fatty acids, followed by a separation that yields 85% to 95% of the polymer by weight.

PILOT PLANT FOR RUBBERISED BITUMEN

In Kochi Refineries Ltd, Kerala, after extensive laboratory research studies to evolve a recipe for Natural Rubber Modified Bitumen (NRMB), a pilot plant was set up initially to manufacture 15,000 tonnes per annum. But with rising demand, the capacity of this plant has been now been raised to 65,000 per annum.

ZINC SALICYLATE

Schenectady International will build wholly owned Zinc Salicylate plant at the Songjiang Industrial Zone, Shanghai, China.

The Zinc salicylate unit will supply the carbonless copy paper industry from early 2004.

The details of the product (HRJ-14508) of Schenectady are described.

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