Tremors of the global financial turmoil have started affecting the trade between India and Brazil, which will remain short of the target envisaged for the present fiscal, a top industry official said.
?We are feeling the first impact of the (economic) slowdown. We had envisaged a trade worth over four billion dollars for the present fiscal but I think we are unlikely to meet the target due to the slump in demand,? Chamber of Commerce BrasilIndia President Robert Paranhos Do Rio Branco said at the sidelines of a IBSA mining conference in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Last year, the trade between the two countries stood at USD 3.1 billion, he said.
Copper emerged as the most valuable export from the Latin American nation to India by the end of last fiscal, with the shipments accounting for about USD 280 million.
Among other minerals, Brazilian iron ore was in demand in the early part of 2008, prices of which have almost halved since then, due the slump in demand globally.
?Iron ore consumption by the steel producers has declined steeply worldwide. Its shipments from the mineral rich Brazil has come down considerably, its prices almost halved from where it stood six months back,? he said.
Branco said the mining sector would be in the limelight this fiscal and cited the multi-billion deals clocked by Indian NRI L N Mittal led ArcelorMittal and interests shown by many Indian steel companies in securing raw material in Brazil.
He maintained that trade between the two countries is not restricted to any one segment or sector and both the nations are partnering into technology, automobile, textiles, mining and other areas.