The outbreak in India has exploded, but orders have exploded! Inquiries skyrocketed 10 times, and foreign trade people seized these business opportunities!

According to the latest data released by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry on May 14,In March this year, India's imports rose by 53.7% year-on-year; in April, it reached an astonishing 167%!

In fact, in 2020, China has once again become India's largest trading partner. According to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India, the total bilateral trade between India and China in 2020 reached 77.7 billion US dollars. Although it was lower than 85.47 billion US dollars in 2019, China surpassed the United States in total and ranked No. 1 among India's trading partners. one.

Affected by the epidemic, the overall import value of India in 2020 will drop sharply by about 40%.But India imported $58.7 billion worth of goods from China, ranking first, compared with the United States and the United Arab Emirates in second and third places combined.

According to Bloomberg,"New Delhi's reliance on imported machinery outweighs its efforts to curb trade with China".India relies heavily on Chinese-made heavy machinery, telecommunications equipment and household appliances.

National University of Singapore economist Amitendu Palit said:“The continued reliance on Chinese imports is due to the lack of domestic supply of these goods. "Goods imported from China are cheap, plentiful and available quickly. Importing goods from other sources is not as cost-effective and convenient as China. "

In April this year, after the second wave of the epidemic in India exploded, India's demand for anti-epidemic materials such as oxygen generators and ventilators has skyrocketed. According to data released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of my country,In April, China has exported more than 26,000 ventilators and oxygen generators, more than 15,000 monitors, and nearly 3,800 tons of medical materials and medicines to India. Relevant Chinese companies have received orders for more than 70,000 oxygen generators from India.

Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong posted on social media on May 2, introducing the overtime work of Chinese oxygen concentrator manufacturers during the "May 1st" period.

According to Made-in-China.com data,Since March, the number of visits from India has shown a significant growth trend, with a year-on-year increase of 21.4% in March and a month-on-month increase of 16.3%; in the same period, the number of inquiries increased by 15.8% year-on-year and 9.3% month-on-month.

in,，

• The average weekly growth rate of inquiries for Health & Medicine products from April to May was as high as 91%.

  Oxygen Generator even surged by 1114%;

  The growth rate of Oxygen Concentrator followed closely, reaching 837%;

  Physical Therapy Equipment also saw a 320% increase.

However, while Chinese manufacturers are working overtime to make Indian orders, some public opinions on Indian social media are fermenting - "India Today" recently published an article entitled"China sends substandard oxygen generators to India after price hike"The "exclusive report" listed the so-called "evidence" such as invoices and photos, and quoted various anonymous buyers and "sources", claiming that "China (company) is sacrificing the lives of Indian people for profit on matters of life and death. ".

The report cited Chinese companies as "price gouging", such asThe price of a certain brand of oxygen generators was $340 per unit on April 30, but the unit price had risen to $460 on May 12. The truth is that companies in the oxygen concentrator industry chain are now facing skyrocketing costs, and factories have no choice.

A medical supplies trader said that the current price of a 5L oxygen generator in the industry is around 3,000 yuan, but some Indian customers find it too expensive. There are even Indian customers who firmly believe that Chinese companies will deliberately raise prices when Indian demand surges, so they repeatedly haggle.

At present, the price of an oxygen generator in the Indian market has been fired to "hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of rupees" (1 yuan is about 11.4 rupees). However, the "middlemen" who make the difference are not necessarily what Indians think.

According to the Delhi Police, they arrested 2 executives and 3 employees of the Indian company Matrix on charges of fraud, violating the Epidemic Act and the Basic Commodities Act. Police said the company sold more than 7,000 oxygen concentrators purchased from China and other places through the black market to COVID-19 patients at high prices.

Indian buyers have always been known as "difficult to deal with", but in fact, the most "crazy" thing about trading with India is,Indian law allows importers to take delivery without payment; returns are not possible in India. So the worst outcome that can be encountered by exporting to India may be——The auction is delayed in Hong Kong, and the payment for the goods is empty.

"Non-payment" by Indians is technically legal, as the Cantonese saying goes - the goods will die. This is how it technically works:

When the goods arrive at the Indian port, IGM (Cargo Manifest Declaration) is required 3 days in advance. Once the importer code (IEC number) is indicated, the title of the goods has been transferred to the importer; at this time, whether the owner, freight forwarder or shipping company , can not control the right of goods, regardless of FOB or CIF conditions, regardless of whether the bill of lading is "TO ORDER OF SHIPPER" (instructed bill of lading), regardless of whether the bill of lading is in your hand, whether it is L/C, D/P or T/T, Indian importers can not return the goods and wait for the customs auction to obtain the goods.At the same time as the customs auction, the consignee of the bill of lading will be notified first, because the consignee of the bill of lading is the first beneficiary locally!

Some unscrupulous Indian customers will even take advantage of this, saying that they want to abandon the goods on the grounds that customs clearance tariffs are too high, in order to achieve the purpose of cheating.

Therefore, although orders for some categories in the Indian market are currently hot, Chinese exporters still need to pay attention to the multiple risks of exporting to India.

Customs clearance risk.The continued deterioration of the epidemic in India has led to various levels of blockades across India, the shutdown of some ports and the logistics industry, and the customs clearance process may be hindered.

currency risk.From January to March this year, the Indian rupee rose slightly against the dollar, but the Indian rupee became the world's worst-performing currency in April, with the rupee falling nearly 4% against the dollar. When a country's currency depreciates suddenly and sharply, it will be beneficial to exports but not to imports, and the cost of imports will also rise.

business survival risk.The survey shows that more than 50% of the Indian companies surveyed said that since the epidemic, their corporate income has decreased by 20-50%. The smaller the company, the more severe the impact. According to Standard & Poor's estimates, India's banking system will have a bad loan ratio of 12%, which is the worst country in the world right now. And as the epidemic worsens, that number is likely to continue to climb.

emotional risk.It can also be seen from the above that the current Indian people's sentiment towards China is relatively "subtle". After the first wave of the epidemic broke out in India last year, the people have been incited to "resist China's manufacturing". The more the epidemic outbreak and the economic downturn, India's need to shift the focus of domestic conflicts will be stronger.

extreme case.A foreign trade person told me recently that all of his Indian customers (in different cities) were infected with the new crown pneumonia. Many sellers are also worried that in case of extreme situations, "the goods arrive and the people are gone", or the buyer refuses to pay the balance due to illness and disappearance.

The Butterfly Effect.Affected by the new crown epidemic, the shipping industry has already fallen into the worst seafarer change crisis after World War II. India is one of the main source countries of seafarers. Of the approximately 1.7 million seafarers in the world, more than 200,000 are from India. The outbreak of the epidemic in India has made the problem of "seafarer shortage" particularly serious. In addition, some countries and regions have imposed stricter epidemic prevention regulations on ships and personnel involved in Indian routes due to concerns about the potential outbreak of the epidemic on freighters, putting pressure on many shipping companies to adjust seafarers. Mark O'Neil, president of the International Association of Ship Managers, also warned that the impact of March's Suez blockage on global supply chains could be seen as "insignificant" compared to the crew change crisis.

In this market, "danger" and "opportunity" will always coexist.