February 5, 2002

       The total import of 300 sensitive tariff lines for the period April to December 2001 has been Rs. 8364 crore against Rs. 7843 crore for the corresponding period of last year thereby showing a positive growth of only 6.7%. This figure may undergo some revision after validation of commodity codes because of the possibility of some items having been inadvertently misclassified by the importers. Provisional estimates of commodity group-wise imports from April-December 2001 as compared to April-December 2000 are enclosed.

        2. At the broad group level, commodities with increase in imports and significant contribution in the total import of sensitive items are Edible oil, Cotton & silk, Spices, Rubber and Marble & Granite. Imports of food grains, fruits & vegetables & milk & milk products have shown a sharp decline at broad group level during the period.

        3. In the edible oil segment, the imports have increased from Rs. 4636.77crore last year to Rs. 4981.43 crore for the corresponding period this year. A significant feature of edible oil import is that while import of Soya bean and palm crude oil has gone up, that of refined Soya bean & palm oil has gone down leading to better utilisation of the processing capacity in the country. However, import of Sunflower oil, both crude & refined, has gone down.

        4. On the basis of the country of origin, the data reveals significant decrease in imports from Malaysia, Guinea Bisu, Ivory Coast, Russia, China, Ghana etc.

        5. Imports from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Tanzania, Iran, Switzerland, Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, USA, Greece, etc have shown increase.

IMPORT OF SENSITIVE ITEMS- PROVISIONAL ESTIMATE

Value (Rs. Crore)