The Hindu Business Line : Imports of sensitive items post small growth

New Delhi, Oct. 3 Even as the country’s overall import growth was 4.74 per cent in rupee terms during April to July, the import of sensitive items for the same period registered a relatively meagre growth of 0.9 per cent. The appreciating rupee which makes import relatively cheaper has not had any noticeable impact on most of the consumption items which constitute the bulk of the sensitive items.

According to an official release issued here by the Department of Commerce which monitors imports of some 350 sensitive items for their effect on domestic products, the total import of sensitive items during April-July 2007 was Rs 6,356 crore as compared to Rs 6,301 crore during the corresponding period of last year, showing an increase of 0.9 per cent. The gross import of all commodities during the same period of the current year was Rs 2,97,081 crore which constituted 2.1 pre cent of the gross imports.

Fruits & vegetables

Imports of fruits and vegetables (including nuts), products of small-scale industries, marble and granite, tea and coffee and milk and milk products have shown a decline at broad group level whereas imports of cotton and silk, automobiles, rubber and alcoholic beverages have shown an increase. For instance, import of fruits and vegetables which amounted to Rs 1,152.22 crore in April-July 2006 had come down to Rs 994.69 crore, showing a negative growth of 13.7 per cent.

Edible oil

In the edible oil segment, the import has increased very marginally from Rs 3,547.51 crore last year to Rs 3,551.15 crore for the corresponding period of this year.

Import of crude oil has gone down by 1.7 per cent and that of refined oil has gone up by 36.7 per cent. There is a pronounced growth in the import of crude palm oil and its fractions, which have gone up by 19 per cent.

Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, the US, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Thailand and Australia have gone up while those from Argentina, China, Cote D’Ivoire, Malaysia, Benin, Sri Lanka and Egypt have shown a decrease.

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