Imports outweigh exports this fiscal, says study

The analysis also said that the exports to South East Asia as a whole increased to $6,592 million in 1999-2000 from $5,184 million in 1998-99, marking a growth of around 27 per cent.

The share of West Europe dropped from 32.6 per cent to 23 per cent duringthe 1990s because of the decline in the share of exports to two majortrading partners, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The share of Germany declined from 7.8 per cent to 4.8 per cent while thatof UK came down from 6.5 per cent to 5.8 per cent. The share of East Europefell from 17.8 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

The analysis shows that India’s imports increased from $ 19,411 million in1991-92 to $ 46,154 million in 1999-2000. The major import items werepetroleum crude and products, fertiliser, pulp and waste paper, newsprint,edible oil, iron and steel, chemicals, machinery, project goods, gold andsilver etc.

The main sources of the imports were Asia and Oceania (45.1 per cent), WestEurope (28.9 per cent) and US (10.3 per cent) during the 1990s.

The share of imports from Africa rose to 13.6 per cent and that of East Europe were somewhat lower at two per cent in 1999-2000.

The current year started on an optimistic note. After a sharp fall in 1998,the world economic output strengthened in 1999, reversing the slowdown ofworld trade.

According to the latest WTO estimates, the output of developing countries inAsia increased by 6 per cent and the GDP of Russia also recovered. There wasa substantial growth in the domestic demand in the US, but economies of WestEurope decelerated somewhat and that of Japan stagnated.

Oil prices which recovered in early 1999 soared subsequently. The decline inprices of many other commodities was also arrested and the world trade pricesfor non-fuel primary products are projected to increase by 2.8 per cent in2000.

While the world economy showed a healthy growth trend, the facilitatingmeasures introduced by the government resulted in an impressive exportgrowth during the current fiscal.

The exports notched up a 23.66 per cent growth during April-August 2000 over the same period last year. In value terms, the exports increased from $ 14.11 billion to $ 17.45 billion during this period.

With the opening of the economy, a compositional change was seen in theexport basket. Some products like gems and jewellery, marine products,engineering goods and chemicals gained importance compared to the traditional products like plantation, agri and allied products, ores andminerals.

The share of textiles improved from 21.8 per cent in 1990-91 to 24.6 percent in 1999-2000, of chemicals and allied products from 9.4 per cent to14.21 per cent and of gems and jewellery from 16 per cent to 23 per cent.