The Hindu Business Line : Readymade exports grow 16.12 per cent in April-July

FOR once, the country's exports of plantations, agri and allied products, marine products, ores and minerals and textiles, albeit their relatively low share, did reasonably well during the first four months of the current fiscal as against their lackadaisical performance last fiscal.

An analysis of the disaggregated trade data compiled by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics and compiled by the Economic Division of the Department of Commerce shows that textile exports with a weightage of 14.74 per cent in total exports posted a 7.45 per cent growth at $4233.50 million during April to July 2005 as against $3940 million in the corresponding months of 2004.

Within this segment, the readymade garments sector performed exceedingly well by logging a growth of 16.12 per cent during the period under review at $2341.49 million ($2016.51 million), reflecting the ability of the domestic garment industry to capture new markets after the abolition of the quota regime from January 1, 2005.

While exports of agriculture and allied products (weightage 7.44 per cent) notched up a 10 per cent growth at $2136.79 million during April-July 2005 ($1942.58 million), plantations (0.77 per cent) segment comprising tea and coffee, registered a growth of 7.32 per cent at $222.35 million ($207.18 million).

Similarly, marine products (1.45 per cent) export, which suffered a setback last fiscal because of rejection in the traditional markets and also the tsunami of December 2004, recovered ground considerably by posting a growth of 25.51 per cent at $415.77 million ($331.26 million). Ores and minerals (5.21) exports too put up a salutary show by registering a growth of 41.10 per cent during the period under review at $1496.02 million ($1060.27 million).

Chemicals and related products (15.45 per cent) grew by 21.08 per cent at $4435.53 million during April-July 2005 ($3663.24 million), while engineering goods exports (18.78) logged a growth of 33.89 per cent at $5391.43 million ($4026.61 million).

Interestingly, high growth segment in the export front during the period under review includes transport equipment (70 per cent), petroleum crude and products (54 per cent) and iron ore (54 per cent) and inorganic/organic/agro chemicals at 49 per cent.

Among the top five countries for exports, Singapore logged the highest growth of 70 per cent at $1904.98 million ($1121.38 million), followed by China of 48 per cent at $1576.73 million ($1066.43 million) and the UK of 47 per cent at $1446.37 million ($983.10 million). Exports to the US went up by 12.34 per cent at $4597.03 million ($4092.18 million).

Overall, the country's exports during the first four months of the current fiscal registered a robust 23.75 per cent growth at $28715.96 million ($23204.64 million).

On the import front, bulk imports with a share of 41.83 per cent in total imports did well by clocking a growth of 38 per cent at $17735.34 million during the period under review, against $12860.66 million in the corresponding months of 2005.

The second significant share in total import goes to petroleum, crude and products (30.52 per cent), which posted a high growth of 36.49 per cent at $12939.26 million ($9479.76 million). The big spurt in oil import bill owes much to the flare up in global crude prices, though there has been no apparent let up in domestic energy consumption too. The third big ticket import item surprisingly turns out to be gold and silver, which with a share of 11.72 per cent in total imports, registered a surge of well-nigh 60 per cent during the period under review at $4968.51 million ($3111.86 million). Import of machinery (9.16 per cent) posted a wholesome 48 per cent growth at $38881.90 million ($2624.60 million) reflecting the distinct turnaround in the country's industrial output too. Among the top five import destinations for India, Switzerland emerged as the foremost as imports from that country registered a quantum 84 per cent growth at $3017.98 million ($1637.02 million), followed by the UAE of 63.40 per cent at $1694.76 million ($1037.19 million) and China of 41.38 per cent at $2655.23 million ($1878.09 million).

Overall, total imports during the period under review registered a 37 per cent growth at $42397.05 million as against $30970.87 million in the corresponding months of 2004.

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