India's import of sensitive items rise over 40 per cent to Rs65,564 crore in FY10

Import of sensitive items into China rose 40.5 per cent to Rs65,564.59 crore during the financial year April-March 2009-2010 against Rs46,667.04 crore during the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Gross import of all commodities during same period stood at Rs13,18,188 crore compared with Rs13,74,434 crore during the same period of the previous year, official data released today showed.

Import of sensitive items thus constituted 5.0 per cent of the country's gross imports in the 2009-10 financial year against 3.4 per cent of the gross imports during the previous year.

Imports of cotton and silk, automobiles, products of small scale industries (SSI), alcoholic beverages and marble and granite have shown a decline at broad group level during the period. Imports of all other items, viz, edible oil, pulses, fruits and vegetables (including nuts), rubber, spices, milk and milk products, tea and coffee and food grains have shown increase during the period under review. 

Import of edible oil increased to Rs25,975.34 crore in fiscal 2009-10 from Rs15,908.84 crore in the 2008-09 financial year. Imports of both crude edible oil as well as refined oil have gone up by 68.7 per cent and 39.7 per cent, respectively. Bulk of the edible oil imports consisted of crude palm oil and its fractions.

Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, Mainland China, Brazil, Myanmar, Malaysia, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Canada, Argentina, Ukraine, Thailand, Australia, Czech Republic, etc have gone up while those from Germany, Cote D' Ivoire, Tanzania etc have shown a decline, the release added.