Date:07/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/02/07/stories/2007020702801000.htm

Back Import of sensitive items up 12% in April-Dec

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New Delhi Feb. 6 The aggregate import of sensitive items being monitored by the Department of Commerce in view of their fallout on domestic prices and supply has shown an increase of 11.7 per cent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal at Rs 14,472 crore as compared to Rs 12,959 crore during the corresponding period of 2005.

An official release issued here said the gross import of all commodity during the period under review was Rs 5,98,287 crore compared with Rs 4,64,866 crore during the same period of 2005.

Imports of sensitive items constitute 2.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent of the gross imports during the last year and current year respectively, it said.

Import of fruits and vegetables (including nuts), cotton and silk, spices and tea and coffee have shown a decline at a broad group level during the period. Import of items viz., edible oil, food grains, products of small scale industry, rubber, marble and granite, alcoholic beverages and milk and milk products have shown increases during the period under review.

Import of milk and milk products has gone up by 483 per cent from a level of Rs 11.17 crore in April-December 2005 to Rs 65.09 crore by April-December 2006, while import of tea and coffee has gone down by 56 per cent from Rs 155.30 crore to Rs 68.83 crore in the corresponding periods.

In the edible oil segment, the import has increased from Rs 6,753 crore last year to Rs 7,558 crore for the corresponding period of the current fiscal. A notable feature of edible oil import is that import of crude oil has gone up by 20.5 per cent and that of refined oil has gone down by 44.9 per cent. The growth in edible oil import is mainly due to significant increases in import of crude palm oil and its fractions, which has gone up by 44 per cent.