The Hindu Business Line : Import of sensitive items up 5.2 pc in Apr-Aug period

IMPORT of sensitive items monitored by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) during the first five months of the current fiscal (April to August) showed a growth of 5.2 per cent in rupee terms at Rs 6,994 crore, against Rs 6,646 crore during the corresponding months of last fiscal.

An official release issued here by the Department of Commerce said that while gross import of all commodities during the period April-August 2005 was Rs 2,37,411 crore as compared to Rs 1,77,411 crore in the corresponding period last year, imports of sensitive items within the total imports constitute only 3.7 per cent and 2.9 per cent of the gross imports during last year and current year respectively.

Imports of edible oil, milk and milk products and rubber have declined during the period, while the imports of fruits and vegetables, cotton and silk, spices, automobiles, marble and granite, tea and coffee, alcoholic beverages and other products have shown increase.

Automobiles with 33 tariff lines showed an import growth of 61.9 per cent at Rs 247.54 crore, against Rs 152.89 crore in April-August 2004. Import of SSI products with 37 tariff lines grew52.5 per cent to Rs 205.04 crore from Rs 134.41 crore.

Interestingly, alcoholic beverages import during the period April-August 2005 shot up by 77.6 per cent at Rs 47.94 crore (Rs 26.99 crore), while that of tea and coffee has registered a hefty 88.8 per cent at Rs 92.42 crore, against Rs 48.95 crore.

Edible oil imports have decreased from Rs 4,288.65 crore to Rs 3,586.70. A notable feature of edible oil import is that import of crude oil has gone up by 24.7 per cent and that of refined oil had gone down by 70.9 per cent.

The decline in edible oil import is mainly due to huge fall in import of RBD palmolein and other refined palm oil, which had gone down by 63 per cent and 77 per cent respectively.

Imports of sensitive items from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, China, Benin, Cote D' Ivoire, and South Korea have gone up, while those from Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan have declined.

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