Q.Distinguish between export trade, import trade and entrepot trade with suitable examples.

Export, import and entrepot trade are the three basic forms international trade takes, distinguished by the direction goods move and whether the intermediate country consumes them.

International trade takes three basic forms depending on the direction in which goods move and the role the intermediate country plays:

Export trade — Selling of goods and services produced or manufactured within one's own country to a buyer in another country. Example: an Andhra Pradesh seafood-processing unit selling frozen shrimp to a buyer in Japan or the United States.

Import trade — Buying of goods and services from a seller in another country for use or resale within one's own country. Example: an Indian refinery importing crude petroleum from Gulf countries because domestic production does not meet demand.

Entrepot trade (also called re-export trade) — Importing goods from one country with the specific intention of exporting them again, as they are or after minor processing, grading, or repacking, to a third country, rather than consuming them domestically. Example: a trading hub such as Singapore or Dubai importing goods from manufacturing countries and re-exporting them onward to neighbouring markets, earning a trading margin without being the final consumer of the goods.

The key distinguishing feature is the destination of final consumption: in export and import trade the goods are meant for final use in the importing country, whereas in entrepot trade the country handling the goods is only a transit point.

Students frequently confuse entrepot trade with ordinary import trade, missing that the defining feature of entrepot trade is re-export to a third country, not domestic consumption. Examples given should name a plausible commodity and pair of countries, not stay purely abstract.