Dairy items, food grains lead import of key items .

Import of dairy items during April 2009-February 2010 surged by a massive 275.5 per cent to Rs 284.88 crore, while that of foodgrains shot up 211 per cent to Rs 91.97 crore.

In April 2008-February 2009, import of milk and other dairy products was only Rs 75.86 crore and foodgrains imports were just Rs 29.57 crore.

The dairy products imports mainly comprise skimmed milk powder and butter oil brought in by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to meet shortfall in milk procurement of its subsidiary, Mother Dairy, and other co-operatives. With their procurement lagging behind, liquid milk supplies have been affected in many States.

The other sensitive items that recorded huge increase in April 2009-February 2010 were pulses, edible oils, rubber as well as tea and coffee.

Imports of edible oils rose 65.3 per cent to Rs 24,025.63 crore during the above period, while that of pulses increased by 62.9 per cent to Rs 9,667.86 crore. Tea and coffee imports went up by 39.4 per cent to Rs 256.05 crore, according to an official data released on Tuesday.

The Government has permitted duty-free import of pulses, edible oils, sugar, rice, wheat and dairy products (subject to a quantitative limit) in its efforts to curb food inflation.

The total import of sensitive items for the period April 2009-February 2010 was Rs 59,981.11 crore, up 39 per cent from Rs 43,208.84 crore during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

However, imports of automobiles during the period under review declined by 27.5 per cent to Rs 1,035.11 crore, while alcoholic beverages fell by 10.5 per cent during the same period to Rs 327.68 crore. Imports of small-scale industry items such as umbrella, toys, locks, writing instruments, tiles and glassware also contracted. The other items that recorded a decline in imports were cotton and silk (-27.2 per cent) as well as marble and granite (-8.7 per cent).

However, imports of fruits and vegetables showed an increase of 5.2 per cent to Rs 4,499.86 crore. Food inflation for the week ended May 1 was 16.44 per cent, mainly due to rise in prices of fruits and vegetables.

Import of sensitive items accounted for 5.1 per cent of the country's total imports during April 2009-February 2010 as against 3.2 per cent in the previous financial year.

The gross import of all commodities during April 2009-February 2010 was Rs 11,80,124 crore as compared with Rs 12,89,412 crore during the same period of the previous year.

Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, China, Brazil, Myanmar, Malaysia, Korea, the US, Japan, Canada, Argentina, Ukraine, Thailand, Australia and Czech Republic have gone up, while those from Germany, Cote D' Ivoire and Tanzania have shown a decrease.

Source : Business Line