The Hindu Business Line : Sensitive items import up 30% in Apr-Aug

New Delhi, Nov. 11 The import of sensitive items during April-August has shown a hefty hike of 30 per cent when compared with the corresponding months of the previous fiscal.

According to figures compiled by the Department of Commerce on some 415 items – which will have a bearing on the domestic production in view of their sensitive nature in terms of impact on prices – such imports for April-August have been Rs 22,429 crore as compared with Rs 17, 206 crore during the corresponding period of the last year.

The gross import of commodities during the same period of the current year was Rs 4,97,108 crore against Rs 6,48,041 crore. However, the import of sensitive items constitutes 2.7 per cent and 4.5 per cent of gross imports during last year and current year respectively.

Imports of automobiles, cotton and silk, products of SSI and alcoholic beverages have shown a decline at broad group level during the period.

Imports of all other items – edible oil, pulses, fruits and vegetables (including nuts), rubber , spices, marble and granite, tea and coffee, milk and milk products and food grains – have shown increases during the period.

Import of rubber shot up from Rs 333.37 crore in April-August 2008 to Rs 777.44 crore in the corresponding months of 2009, showing a robust increase of 133.2 per cent. Milk and milk products registered a massive increase of 425 per cent from Rs 18.35 crore to Rs 96.30 crore in the comparable months.

In the edible oil segment, the import has increased from Rs 4,791.49 crore last year to Rs 8,994.36 crore for the corresponding period of this year.

The imports of crude edible oil and refined oil have gone up by 89 per cent and 81 per cent respectively. The increase in edible oil import is mainly due to substantial increase in import of crude palm oil and its fractions.

Interestingly, small-scale industries’ products such as umbrella, locks, toys, writing instruments, glassware and tiles have registered a decline of 36.2 per cent from a level of Rs 497.92 crore to Rs 317.82 crore in the comparable period.

Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, United States of America, Brazil, Canada, Ukraine, Argentina, Benin and Australia, among others, have gone up, while those from China, Korea, Japan, the Ivory Coast, Germany, Thailand and the Czech Republic have shown a decrease.

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