Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal said Sunday that the govt has aggressively sought to push the farm sector’s interests in the US trade deal, while protecting its sensitivities around dairy and agriculture. “We have $30-odd billion of imports. The important thing is we have $55 billion of exports of farm and fish produce. So, we should have an offensive interest, which is what we have focused on simultaneously along with protecting the sensitive sectors,” he told TOI in an interview. The deal opens the doors for several products such as tea, coffee, spices and fruits with the US allowing their import at zero reciprocal tariff, while also helping seafood exporters compete favourably as the reciprocal tariff has been slashed to 18%. The minister also said that concern over the import of distillers dried grains with solubles, a feed ingredient that is a by-product of dry-milled ethanol production, is misplaced and that India has only opened a small window. While Goyal refused to disclose details, officials said against domestic animal feed consumption of 500 lakh tonnes, the quota offered to the US is only five lakh tonnes. The minister said the demand had come from the industry itself amid rising livestock population and growing requirement for feed, especially at a time when arable land is shrinking.
