New Delhi, Oct. 8 Import of sensitive items numbering 350, being monitored by the Commerce Ministry for their impact on domestic prices, has shown a hefty spurt of 35 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal.
Foodgrains, edible oil, pulses and milk and milk products imports have shot up to make up for domestic supply constraints.
According to figures released by the Department of Commerce here, the total import of sensitive items for April-July 2009 has been Rs 18,061 crore as compared with Rs 13,424 crore during the corresponding period of last year, an increase of 34.5 per cent.
The gross import of all commodities during same period of the current year was Rs 3,82,422 crore (Rs 4,88,668 crore). The import of sensitive items formed 2.7 per cent of gross imports last year and 4.7 per cent this year.
Imports of automobiles, products of SSI and alcoholic beverages have shown a decline at broad group level during the period. Imports of all other items such as edible oil, pulses, fruits and vegetables (including nuts), cotton and silk, rubber, spices, marble and granite, milk and milk products, tea and coffee and foodgrains have shown increase during the period under reference.
In the edible oil segment, the import has increased from Rs 3,682.91 crore last year to Rs 7,150.81 crore for the corresponding period of this year.
The imports of both crude and refined edible oil have gone up by 94.6 per cent and 91.6 per cent respectively. The increase in edible oil import is mainly due to the substantial increase in import of crude palm oil and its fractions as indigenous supply of substitute oils has become inadequate and domestic edible oil prices were escalating.
The biggest growth in a single imported item of sensitive nature was in the case of milk and milk products which rose by 487.3 per cent from Rs 14.70 crore in April-July 2008 to Rs 86.36 crore for the period under review.
Interestingly, import of foodgrains has registered the high growth by 97 per cent at Rs 7.71 crore (Rs 3.92 crore), though in terms of value, import of tea and coffee has jumped from Rs 48.58 crore to Rs 84.03 crore during the period under review.
Import of pulses too jumped from Rs 1,690.57 crore to Rs 2,645.99 crore, while import of fruits and vegetables too went up sharply by 31 per cent from Rs 1,554.38 crore to Rs 2,028.90 crore.
Country-wise
Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, Myanmar, the US, Malaysia, Canada, Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina, Benin, Cote D’ Ivoire, Australia, and Thailand have gone up while those from China, Korea RP, Japan, Germany, and Czech Republic have decreased.
Source : Business Line