India's imports of sensitive items up 13.6 per cent in Q1-FY11

Import of sensitive items into the country rose 13.6 per cent to Rs16,190.13 crore ($3.5 billion) in April-June 2010-11 from Rs14,252.09 crore ($ 3.07 billion) in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Against this, total imports of all commodities into the country during the period stood at Rs3,78,992 crore compared with Rs3,01,439 crore in the same period of the previous year. Import of sensitive items thus constituted 4.7 per cent and 4.3 per cent of the gross imports during last year and current year, respectively, an official release said today. 

Among sensitive items, imports of pulses, cotton and silk have shown a decline at broad group level during the period. Imports of all other items, viz, edible oil, automobiles, fruits and vegetables (including nuts), rubber, milk and milk products, SSI products, spices, marble and granite, alcoholic beverages and foodgrains have gone up during the period under review. 

Edible oil imports increased to Rs6,071.09 crore in April-June this year from Rs5,856.52 crore in the corresponding period last year. Within edible oils, import of crude vegetable oils has gone up by 11.5 per cent while import of refined oil has gone down by 40.6 per cent. The increase in edible oil import has mainly been due to a substantial increase in import of crude soyabean oil, the release said.

Market-wise, imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, China, People's Republic of Korea, Brazil, United States, Argentina, Germany, Thailand, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Tanzania, etc have gone up while imports from countries like those from Myanmar, Malaysia, Ukraine, Japan, Canada, Cote D' Ivoire, Benin, Australia, etc have shown a decline.