The Hindu Business Line : Traditional items boost export growth in April-Jan

ACCELERATED export growth in traditional items such as agriculture and allied products, gems and jewellery, chemicals and related products and engineering goods which account for a lion's share of the country's exports helped in propelling the overall export growth to 27 per cent in dollar terms during the first 10 months of the 2004-05 fiscal.

Disaggregated trade data compiled by the Economic Division of the Commerce Ministry, based on provisional figures of the Directorate of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), Kolkata, reveal that engineering goods with a weightage of 18.08 per cent in total exports did well during April 2004 to January 2005, clocking a growth of 39 per cent at $11,420.83 million, against $8,205.44 million in the comparable months of 2003-04.

While gem and jewellery (weightage 16.90 per cent) put up a wholesome show by notching up a growth of 30.21 per cent at $10,673.08 million ($8,196.69 million), chemicals and related products (15.97 per cent) registered a robust growth of 30.38 per cent during the period under review, against $7739.21 million. Though agriculture and allied products exports account for a share of 7.35 per cent in total exports, they registered a growth of 11.27 per cent at $4643.12 million ($4172.77 million).

A worrisome development during the last fiscal is that textiles which account for a share of 15.60 per cent in aggregate exports, put up a tepid show by logging a growth of 3.12 per cent at $9,857.20 million ($9558.96 million). Similarly, low and negative growth rate was recorded by electronic goods at 1.32 per cent, cotton yarn, fabrics and made-up (0.17 per cent), readymade garments cotton including accessories at 0.33 per cent and marine products at-7.79 per cent.

Among the regions to which India's exports were shipped, Asia and Oceania which absorb slightly around 47 per cent of total exports did relatively well by registering a growth of 29.41 per cent at $29620.93 million ($22889.26 million). West Europe, which absorbs as much as 24 per cent of India's exports grew by 22.23 per cent to $15007 million ($12277.73 million).

Surprisingly, India's exports to Africa, though account for a modest share of just seven per cent, grew by 40.07 per cent at $4160.65 million ($2970.45 million). By far the best performance among the regions was held by the Americas, which posted a growth of 84.08 per cent and accounted for a share of 21 per cent, at $13286.41 million ($10619.01 million).

India's exports during the first 10 months of the 2004-05 fiscal fetched $63,171.34 million ($49,739.57 million), showing a salutary growth rate of 27 per cent. Among the top 15 countries for exports, Singapore recorded the highest growth of 78 per cent, followed by China at 58 per cent, Belgium at 39 per cent and France at 30.61 per cent.

On the import front, bulk imports with a share of 39 per cent in total imports, grew by a 41.84 per cent at $33758.64 million ($23799.85 million). This was followed by imports of petroleum, crude and products, which with a share of close to28 per cent in total imports did grow by 44 per cent, partly fuelled by high cost of imported crude and partly by a distinct jump in domestic consumption of energy products. POL import bill during the period under study zoomed to $24,038.31 million ($16,721.86 million).

Machinery imports (9.79 per cent weightage) went up by 24.32 per cent at $8469.52 million ($6533.47 million), while import of pearls, precious and semi-precious stones (8.37 per cent) grew by 24.32 per cent at $7242.20 million ($5825.47 million). Gold and silver import (10.08 per cent) showed a jump of 60.81 per cent at $8723.65 million ($5424.71 million).

Destinationwise, India's import from Asia and Oceania, which account for a weightage of 36 per cent, registered a growth of 45.31 per cent at $30718.80 million ($21139.49 million. Import from the Americas (8.44 per cent) grew by 33.05 per cent at $7305.14 million ($5490.50 million). Interestingly, imports from traditional West European countries (22.45 per cent) grew by 29.47 per cent at $19422.56 million ($15002.07 million).

India's imports during the first 10 months of 2004-05 fiscal amounted to $86,507.82 million ($62,305.16 million), registering a growth of 38.85 per cent. Among the top 15 countries for imports, the highest growth was compassed by the UAE at 133.20 per cent, followed by China at 70.81 per cent, Switzerland at 69.44 per cent, Australia at 51.31 per cent, Germany at 32.20 per cent and Republic of Korea at 32 per cent.

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