The total import of sensitive items for the period April-November 07 has been Rs.18702 crore as compared to Rs.16726 crore during the corresponding period of last year thereby showing an increase of 11.8%. The gross import of all commodities during same period of current year was Rs.612357 crore as compared to Rs.544674 crore during the same period of last year. Thus import of sensitive items constitute 3.07% and 3.05% of the gross imports during last year and current year respectively.

Imports of spices, marble & Granite and milk & milk products have shown a decline at broad group level during the period. Imports of items viz. edible oil, fruits & vegetables (including nuts), cotton & silk, food grains, automobiles, products of SSI, rubber, Alcoholic beverages and Tea & Coffee have shown increase during the period under reference.

In the edible oil segment, the import has increased from Rs.7304 crore last year to Rs.8024 crore for the corresponding period of this year. The import of both crude oil as well as refined oil have gone up by 9.1% and 15.8% respectively. The increase in edible oil import is mainly due to significant growth in import of Crude palm oil and its fractions, which have gone up by 16%.

Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, Canada, China P RP, United States of America, Brazil, Sri Lanka DSR, Germany, Thailand, Japan, Guinea Bissau etc. have gone up while those from Argentina, Myanmar, Russia, Malaysia, Cote D' Ivoire, Australia, Benin etc. have shown a decrease.

Sensitive item import trends show modest increase while maintaining stable share of total imports, with sectoral shifts noted. Total imports of designated sensitive items during April-November 2007 increased modestly compared with the same period in the prior year, leaving their share of gross imports roughly unchanged. The release records country-level variation in sensitive-item imports and identifies sectoral trends: declines for spices, marble and granite, and milk products, and increases for edible oil, fruits and vegetables, cotton and silk, food grains, automobiles, SSI products, rubber, alcoholic beverages, and tea and coffee. Edible-oil import growth reflects higher crude palm oil and fraction shipments.