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Imports of 300 sensitive items post 4% dip in April

India's import of 300 sensitive items registered a decline of close to four per cent during April this year, mainly on account of a sharp drop in imports of edible oil, cotton and silk products.

Imports of the 300 tariff lines was pegged at Rs 6.88 billion during April as against Rs 7.14 billion in the same month a year earlier, a negative growth of 3.72 per cent, an official release said.

As per provisional data released by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade here, the dip was mainly attributed to a significant decline in edible oil imports which fell to Rs 3.42 billion compared to Rs 4.165 billion in 2001.

A significant feature of the edible oil import is that while import of palm crude oil went up during the period, that of refined soya bean and palm oil went down leading to better utilisation of the processing capacity in the country.

There was however, a sizeable increase in imports of spices which surged almost six times to Rs 1.386 billion from a mere Rs 249.6 million in April 2001. Imports of rubber, milk, food grains and SSI products also increased during the period.

A country-wise break-up reveals that imports from China, Brazil, USA, Malaysia, New Zealand and Thailand have shown some increase while those from Argentina, Indonesia, Tanzania and Nigeria have posted a decline.

Other items which also witnessed significant drop in imports included cotton and silk whose imports declined to Rs 1.286 billion from Rs 2.071 billion a year earlier.

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