Import of sensitive items falls

The share of total import of sensitive items for the period April-August 2005 has declined to just 2.9 per cent of the gross imports compared to nearly 4 per cent in the corresponding period in 2004-05.

Imports of over 300 items which have been identified as sensitive touched Rs 6,994 crore during April-August as compared to Rs 6,646 crore during the corresponding period last year, an increase of 5.2 per cent.

The gross import of all commodities during the same period of current year was Rs 2,37,411 crore as compared to Rs 1,77,411 crore during April-August 2004-05. Imports of edible oil, milk and milk products and rubber have shown a decline at broad group-level during the period.

Imports of fruits and vegetables, cotton and silk, spices, automobiles, marble and granite, tea and coffee, alcoholic beverages, SSI and other products have shown an increase during this period. In the edible oil segment, imports have decreased from Rs 4,288.65 crore last year to Rs 3,586.70 crore for the corresponding period this year.

A significant feature of edible oil import is that import of crude oil has gone up by 24.7 per cent and that of refined oil has gone down by 70.9 per cent. The decline in edible oil import is mainly due to a huge fall in import of RBD Palmolein and other refined palm oil, which has gone down by 63 per cent and 77 per cent respectively.

Imports of sensitive items from Argentina, Brazil, China, Benin, Cote D' Ivoire, North Korea, Guinea Bissau, USA, Egypt, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the UAE had gone up, while those from Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan decreased.