Exports have grown by a far more impressive 23 per cent during April-August 2002 as compared with the corresponding period last year than the provisional figure of 13.37 per cent released by the commerce ministry earlier.
The final figures on foreign trade for April-August 2002, compiled by the ministry on the basis of the disaggregated trade data released by its Directorate-General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics(DGCIS), has put the export growth at almost 9 per cent higher than the provisional figure. The difference is due to late reporting of data, say officials.
Imports have gone up 7 per cent during April-August 2002 as compared to the corresponding period last year, according to the disaggregated data.
The provisional figures had put the import growth at 1.76 per cent. Oil imports have increased 30.3 per cent to $7,099 million as per the data, as against an increase of only 5.3 per cent reported in the aggregated import figures released earlier.
While the broad category of agriculture and allied products has grown 9 per cent, textile exports, which account for 22 per cent of the total exports, rose 13 per cent during April-August 2002 as against the same period of 2001.
The level of exports touched $4,576 million in April-August 2002 as against $4,038 million in the corresponding period of 2001.
The ministry while pleased over the sharp rise is considering measures to ensure that such under-reportage is cured.
Gems and jewellery exports rose 32 per cent from $2,687 million to $3,545 million in the first five months of this fiscal.
Exports of chemicals and related products, which account for 14.5 per cent of the total exports, rose 15 per cent during the same period.
Engineering good exports rose 22 per cent, with exports of non-ferrous metals rising by over 102 per cent and that of iron and steel rising 39 per cent during April-August 2002. Exports of transport equipment rose 30 per cent to $502 million in the same period.
Exports of plantation crops, however, fell 13 per cent during the period in question. Leather and manufacturing exports fell 4.9 per cent during April-August 2002, while that of electronic goods fell 4.3 per cent. Carpet exports also fell marginally from $208 million to $205 million.
The disaggregated figures also put the import of pearls, precious and semi-precious stones at $2,524.4 million in April-August 2002, up from $1,877.8 million in the corresponding period of 2001, an increase of over 34 per cent.
Among the other major import items, machinery imports rose 19 per cent, while imports of electronic goods rose 28 per cent. Gold and silver imports fell 34 per cent at $1,478 million during April-August 2002.
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