Sources of Information Available to Exporters (IM 15 Oct 2020)

Sources of Information Available to Exporters

 

1. Export Promotion Councils. These include the Trade Development Authority, and various chambers of commerce.

 

2. Libraries. Maintained by foreign embassies in India these provide a number of references to assist exporters

 

3. United Nations. It publishes detailed international trade statistics which can help the exporters in locating the market for their products.

 

4. Commercial Banks and the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India. These can provide information about the foreign exchange and payment conditions in different countries and also the credit ratings and risks.

 

5. Export-Import Bank. It can provide information about assistance provided by the bank to Indian exporters and foreign importers of Indian goods

 

6. Reserve Bank of India. It publishes the “Reserve Bank of India Bulletin incorporating the policies regarding exchange control regulations and other credit information.

 

Analysis of the Information

 

In order to reduce the possible markets to probable or more likely markets the information available to an Indian exporter must be analyzed. The process of analysis would be as follows:

 

1. Analysis of India's export statistics. These are officially published in the Monthly Statistic Relating to India's Foreign Trade.' Their analysis would enable the exporter to find out the markets of the similar products and the rate of growth of exporters. Data for a period of three to five years should be collected to find out the long-term trend of the markets.

 

2. Examination of import statistics of the different countries. It will enable one to know the relative size of the various markets. A careful analysis would reveal the quantity of imports, main rivals and the nature of imports trend of different market whether they are increasing, decreasing or static. An expanding market should be selected because further sales in these markets would be possible without much affecting the competitors and would make the market task easier. This statistic may be available in foreign embassies or consulates in India and chambers of commerce. In addition, OECD World Trade Statistics and United Nations International Trade Statistics also provide these data.

 

3. Idea of possible unit value realization. Examination of the above two statistics may give an idea of the possible unit value realization as also the price paid for imports in foreign countries form different sources.

 

4. Examination of reports of research studies. This is made by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Trade Development Authority and Export Promotion Councils. It may reveal various markets and the products covered by them.

 

5. Talks to some experienced exporters of allied products. As a competitor would avoid disclosing the facts, contacting trade associations and chamber of commerce would help in appraising the markets. Export promotion councils also assist the new exporters in finding out new markets by providing necessary details about each of them.

 

6. The Economic Times. It is a daily paper which publishes supplements covering one particular country and other articles and research papers prepared by its Research Bureau giving a lot of information useful to markets. Some journals like the Commerce/Eastern Economics also conduct valuable researches from time to time.

7. Commercial banks. These provide valuable information about the payment position and exchange control regulations in different countries. They also provide necessary information about the export credit available to Indian exporters and about the various risk covers provided by the ECGC.

 

8. Freight forwarders. These may supply the necessary information relating to availability of shipping services as also the freight charges to different countries. Underwriters may provide the details about marine insurance.

 

9. India's commercial representatives abroad. These may also help in collecting the valuable information regarding health, sanitary and other regulations like marketing, labelling, packaging etc. and in the selection of agents. There may give the exporters as much information as possible along with the published material, if any, supporting the claims, if they should like to contact them.

 

Having collected the information from the various sources government and otherwise the exporter should start processing and analyzing the information in respect of each prospective market to make a final decision. As soon as he locates the probable markets for his product, it might be better, and useful for him to have a visit to those markets and see at first-hand what each market has to offer. These visits should be arranged preferably when a trade fair is on so that he may have an idea of what is available in the market concerned and other necessary marketing information such as competitors, price, strength and weaknesses of the competing products. He must also take the precaution that the man visiting a foreign market must know his product well.

 

The exporter should test the market carefully to minimize the risks before mounting any export offensive. It would be useful to find out the market segment which offers the best potential. It would be better to concentrate on a few markets which would be in the manageable limits of the exporter. It would be necessary to review from time to time the export markets and to reassess their characteristics and potentials.