Imports of sensitive items decline

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 11. Imports of ``sensitive'' items have actually fallen by 17 per cent in the four months after quantitative restrictions were removed. The value of imports of these 14 items is estimated at Rs. 3,034 crores during April-July as against Rs. 3,663 crores over the same period last year.

The ``sensitive'' items had been identified when the new Export Import policy was announced for 2001-02, to ensure that any surges in imports can be tackled without any delay. Thus 14 tariff lines were selected for monitoring including milk and milk products, fruits and vegetables, tea and coffee, spices, foodgrains, edible oils, alcoholic beverages, rubber, cotton and silk, marble and granite, automobiles and poultry. In addition, products of concern to the small scale sector were covered as well as miscellaneous items like wheat flour, sugar, cigarettes and salt.

According to the latest data released by the Commerce Ministry, there is a significant increase only in respect of spices, mainly cloves from Sri Lanka along with cotton and silk. While silk imports have taken place mainly from China and Chile, cotton has been imported from as many as 52 countries.

The Ministry says these imports are likely to strengthen the country's export competitiveness in the textile sector which accounts for 25 to 30 per cent of the export basket. The import of tea (black dust) worth Rs. 3 crores is mainly for blending and export. In the fruits and vegetables segment, even though there is a sharp decline at the broad group level from Rs. 534 crores to Rs. 196 crores, there has been a significant increase in respect of apples from Rs. 11 crores to Rs. 20 crores. These imported apples, it is felt, essentially cater to the premium segment of the domestic market.

In the edible oils segment, imports have declined from Rs. 2,130 crores to Rs. 1,677 crores for the corresponding period this year. A significant feature of edible oil imports is that while imports of refined edible oils have fallen substantially that of crude palm oil and crude soyabean oil have gone up, leading to better utilisation of the processing capacity in the country.

The data show that on the basis of country of origin, there has been a significant decrease in imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Russia, Guinea Bissau, Thailand, New Zealand, China and Mali. Imports from Brazil, the U.S., Afghanistan, Nigeria, Paraguay, Iran, Uzbekistan and Chile have, on the other hand, shown a substantial increase.

The Ministry maintains the overall picture that emerges from these quick estimates is that imports have responded to the customs duty changes and other import management measures put in effect in recent months.

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