The Hindu Business Line : Buoyant trend continues in exports

The country's exports continue to be buoyant with export proceeds crossing the $10-billion threshold for a single month in August and the overall exports during the first five months of the fiscal clocking a hefty growth of 34.48 per cent in dollar terms.

Provisional data on the country's merchandise exports during August are valued at $10.38 billion which is 41.14 per cent higher than $7.35 billion in August 2005.

Cumulatively, exports during April to August are valued at$48 billion, which is 34.48 per cent higher than the level of ($35.76 billion).

In rupee terms, the exports were Rs 2,20,853.33 crore during the first five months of the current fiscal, which is 41.67 per cent higher than Rs 1,55,889.61 crore (provisional) during April-August 2005.

Senior officials in the Commerce Ministry say that besides traditional exports such as engineering and chemicals and products and textiles to a certain extent, export of petroleum products too showed a salutary uptrend during the period under review.

Imports

The country's imports in August are valued at $13.87 billion, signifying an increase of 32.16 per cent over $10.5 billion in August 2005. Cumulatively, imports during April to August are valued at $68.29 billion, which is 28.39 per cent higher than $53.2 billion in April-August 2005.

In rupee terms, the imports were Rs 3,13,472.15 crore which is 35.2 per cent higher than Rs 2,31,865.88 crore (provisional) during April to August 2005.

Oil imports during August 2006 are valued at $5,038.96 million, which is 27.25 per cent higher than oil imports valued at $3,959.93 million in the corresponding period last year.

Oil imports during April-August 2006 are valued at $23.57 billion, which is 39.48 per cent higher than oil imports valued at $16.9 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal. The sharp spurt in oil import reflects largely the impact of the increase in global crude oil prices.

Non-oil imports in August 2006 are estimated at $8,830.92 million, which is 4.37 per cent higher than such imports valued at $8,460.98 million in August 2005. Non-oil imports during April-August 2006 are estimated at $44.72 billion, which is 8.76 per cent higher than the level of such imports valued at $41.11 billion in April-August 2005. The relatively lower non-oil import growth is to a certain extent attributable to the continuous depreciation of the Indian rupee vis-à-vis the dollar and the depreciation has rendered import expensive enough to moderate the growth level, officials say.

The trade deficit for the first five months of the current fiscal zoomed to $20.20 billion, which is higher than the deficit of $17.43 billion during April-August 2005, an official release issued by the Department of Commerce here said.

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