Chemical Fertilizers stocks fell 1.58% to 4.88% after FM announced intent to help farmers to cut fertilizer use in farming. Fertilizers & Chemicals Travancore, Chambal Fertilisers, Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers, Madras Fertilizers, Deepak Fertilisers, National Fertilizer and Gujarat State Fertilzers and Chemicals were top losers in Fertilizers segment on the first business day after the budget announcement.

The government proposes plans to help farmers use proper manure and little water and encourage balanced use of fertilizers as per the Finance Ministers budget notes.

The government on Saturday revoked the antidumping duty on import of a chemical used in textile industry from seven countries, including South Korea and Thailand. According to a memorandum of the Budget, antidumping duty on import of Purified Terephthalic Acid originating in or exported from South Korea, Thailand, China, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan has been revoked.

In July last year, the finance ministry had imposed antidumping duty of up to USD 78.28 per tonne on the chemical from South Korea and Thailand. In July 2016, the ministry slapped the duty of up to USD 168.76 per tonne on the chemical from China, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan. Hailing the move, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivel said abolishing the duty will give the much needed boost to the entire textile and apparel value chain.

The impact of the recent US-China trade war was just about to subside and a new issue came into being. An epidemic or outbreak is the reason we may see a potential downside in the world markets. Hope the situation is controlled by vaccines for the CoronaVirus which might take a while, however the export and imports to and from China is going to be a major setback for the country and the world. Does this mean that the other south Asian countries will benefit from this China slowdown and FDI to India might increase to set up new plants and factories in India? The base is weak in China. Eating dogs, bats and other wild animals is what it takes to bring the wrath of nature back to the world. The world might see more disasters if the Climate Change issue is not tackled, the use of plastics and its disposal is a bigger issue at hand which if not addressed and might lead to more calamities. Should we call it natural or man-made?

There are several exhibitions happening in the month of March. Based on the recent travel bans, we only hope that the exhibitions have a major success. These are following exhibitions you might be interested in: