Trade Series - India Top 20 Ports.
by Steven Randall
India is Australia's fifth largest trading partner after China, the USA, Japan and Europe, and has a population of over 1.2 billion people. Many people believe India would have followed closely behind China to be the next "..economic miracle.." of Asia, and whille there is significant growth happening in the country, there are major differences between India and China that will cause this country to grow in a much slower, steady fashion.
http://www.businessmapsaustralia.com.au/collections/custom-international/products/india-top-20-ports
Mumbai is one of India's oldest and largest cities...
and is India's largest port...
... currently handling over 20% of India's total sea freight. This is in excess of 100 million tons of freight a year. Exports include clothing, machinery, textiles, and other manufactured goods. Raw materials for manufacturing include Petroleum products, chemicals and cotton.
Australia ships nearly 100 million tons of coal to India each year...
.. made up of Thermal coal for power generation, and high quality coking coal to feed India's large steel industry. As with many countries around the globe, India is keenly seeking to lower coal use for generation of power, and is moving steadily towards Liquified natural Gas or LNG - for cleaner environmental results.
Facilities like the Hazira LNG terminal near the port of Surat in North Western India...
and this new receiving terminal at Ennore near the port of Chennai.....
.....are just part of the industry's growth as the country moves into the 21st century.
Australian LNG from the Gorgon LNG plant in West Australia will start being shipped to the port /terminal at Kochi in the near future.
Chennai is the third largest port in India, handling over 60 million tons of freight a year...
... including 3 millon containers and up to 4 million tons of food grains. It is a major receiving port for food grains, containers,, iron ore and coal. It services a large part of the southern Indian continent with major rail and road networks.
Paradip is a new deep water port, specifically built to handle large bulk carriers, including crude oil and fertilizers coming in, and Iron Ore going out. The Oil refinery in the port - pictured below...
... produces a large array of petro-chemical products for export and local useage.
Australia's exports to India total approximately $12 billion in 2015, and included $6 billion of coal; $1 billion of Gold metal; Copper products worth over $1 billion; and a variety of non ferrous products totaling around $4 billion a year.
As India grows, Australia has the opportunity to greatly increase it's trading with this very important south Asian partner.
Next time we will consider the sleeping giant that is Africa, and the amazing opportunities that exist there.