'Coronavirus outbreak: India should be cautious about importing agri, food, marine items from China'

India should be cautious at ports about imports of agri, food and marine products from China amid outbreak of deadly coronavirus in the neighbouring country, trade experts say.

The experts said port authorities should follow properly all the protocols related with sanitary (related to animals) standards.

"As this deadly coronavirus is spreading at a fast pace, India should be cautious while importing agri, food and marine products rom China," Professor at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Rakesh Mohan Joshi said.

Sharing similar views, Trade economist and Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University Biswajit Dhar said this is an opportunity to upgrade infrastructure at ports on the back of spread of the virus.

"Sanitary standards should be followed and maintained properly," he said.

He added that although there is no fool-proof theory that this virus is spreading through non-living things, but "we should not take any chance".

Dhar said the government should also provide protective gears or masks to workforce working at ports, particularly those handling agri, food and marine product consignments coming from China.

"This is also an opportunity for us to upgrade infrastructure at ports with regard to sanitary standards," he added.

China is a key trading partner of India. The bilateral trade between India and China has dipped to USD 87 billion in 2018-19 from USD 89.71 billion in 2017-18.

While India's exports stood at only USD 16.75 billion in 2018-19, imports aggregated at USD 70.31 billion. The trade deficit between the countries was USD 53.57 in 2018-19. India is pushing hard to increase its exports to bridge this ballooning trade gap.

When asked whether India should put restrictions on imports of these items from China, another expert said this will not be "good idea", instead "we should take precautionary steps to deal with the situation and government departments should consult commerce ministry before considering any measure".

China has expressed hoped that India will not put trade restrictions and limit movement of people to the country in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic in its Hubei province.

The death toll in China because of the virus has gone up to 490, while the number of confirmed cases has touched 24,300.

The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency after coronavirus cases were reported in several parts of the globe.