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Gems & jewelry, machinery lead exports growth
By agencies
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Tuesday, 23 August 2005, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Five commodities — transport equipment; petroleum, crude and products; machinery and instruments; gems and jewelry; and readymade garment-cotton, including accessories — that account for 42 percent of the country's aggregate exports performed well to sustain a 21 percent growth in dollar terms during the first two months of 2005-06 fiscal.
According to disaggregated trade data compiled on the basis of provisional data of the Directorate of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics by the Economic Division of the Department of Commerce, gems and jewelry, with a share of 16.36 percent in total exports, clocked a growth of 19.63 percent at $2284 million during April-May 2005, against $1909.28 million in the corresponding period in 2004.
Transport equipment (weight 5.59 percent) logged a growth of 106.87 percent at $780.16 million ($377.12 million).
Machinery and other instruments (4.62 percent) posted a 31.57 percent growth at $644.38 million ($489.78 million), while RMG cotton, including accessories (6.54 percent), notched up a growth of 19.44 percent at $913.19 million ($764.59 million).
Chemicals and related products (15.23 percent) registered a growth of 16.24 percent at $2126.26 million ($1829.21 million), while engineering goods (19.41 percent) grew by 62.77 percent at $1452.36 million ($892.25 million).
A noteworthy development is that in the face of reports of negative growth during the inaugural months of 2005 after the abolition of quota regime in December 31, 2004, exports of textile and clothing, which account for 14.64 percent in the overall exports, acquitted themselves well by recording a growth of 9.16 percent during April-May 2005 at $2043.51 million ($1872.06 million).
While exports of agriculture and allied products (7.63 percent) registered a growth of 0.81 percent at $1065.10 million ($1056.59 million), marine products exports (1.18 percent share), which suffered substantially last year because of the tsunami devastation, recovered by logging a growth of 28.41 percent at $164.32 million ($127.96 million).
Overall, the country's exports during the first two months of 2005-06 grew by 21.26 percent at $13962.21 million ($11514.02 million).
Destination-wise, Asia and Oceania which absorbed India's exports of the order of 47.31 percent, grew 17.81 percent at $6605.58 million in April-May 2005 ($5606.84 million), while West Europe, absorbing close to 30 percent of India's exports, clocked 24.32 percent growth at $3395.73 million ($2634.42 million).
Among the top 15 countries for exports, South Africa logged the highest growth (131 percent), followed by Singapore (97 percent), the UK (54 percent), China (52 percent) and France (50 percent). The United Arab Emirates recorded negative growth rate.
On the import front, bulk imports with a weight of 39.75 percent showed a growth of 42.78 percent at $8593.56 million during April-May 2005 against $6018.87 million. Petroleum, crude and products (29.37 percent) registered a growth of 41.62 percent at $6346.66 million ($4481.40 million).
Machinery imports (9.29 percent) grew by 57.88 percent at $2006.774 million ($1271.10 million), while imports of pearls, precious and semi-precious stones (7.92 percent) went up by 111.15 percent at $1710.54 million ($810.12 million).
A surprising feature on the import front is that as against last year's relentless rise in import of gold and silver, such imports, accounting for a share of 9.10 percent in the country's aggregate, nosedived by 9.99 percent during the first two months at $1967.01 million ($2185.35 million). Overall imports during the period under review registered a growth of 44.82 percent at $21611.31 million ($14922.43 million).
Destination-wise, India continues to source substantial part of its imports from Asia and Oceania as this region accounting for a share of 32.23 percent in total imports grew by 36.31 percent at $6965.61 million ($5110.28 million). Imports from West Europe (25.30 percent) grew by 61.87 percent at $5467.03 million, against $3377.40 million.
Among the top 15 countries for imports, the highest growth was recorded by Hong Kong (80 percent), followed by Belgium (75 percent), Germany (71 percent), Switzerland (70 percent), the UK (66 percent), the UAE (51 percent) and the U.S. (47 percent).