Milk, foodgrain imports up to Jan surged on high inflation

Imports of essential edible items like milk, milk products and foodgrains rocketed in the first 10 months of 2010-11 in the backdrop of high food inflation in the country.

Imports of foodgrains went up by a whopping 262.3% between April-January period of the previous fiscal, while inward shipments of milk and milk products increased by 171.6%, according to the Commerce Ministry data. 

Food inflation had touched an alarming level of 17.05% for the week ended January 22 before declining into single digit. The rate of price rise in food items was 8.53% for the week ended April 23. 

Milk prices and some foodgrains along with fruits and vegetables were the main reasons for rising food inflation.

Other items which saw a surge in imports included automobile products (116%), rubber (107%) and alcoholic beverages (-50.9%). 

However, the overall imports of items, which are sensitive from the point of view of small scale industries, grew by only 8% to Rs 58,715 crore in the first 10 months of 2010-11 over a year ago. During April-January 2009-10, the imports stood at Rs 54,375 crore.

Pulses, cotton and silk witnessed contraction in imports during the period.

Import of sensitive items amounted to 4.7% of the country's total imports and went up by 12.7% (in rupee terms) during April-January 2010-11. The gross import of all commodities in the 10 months of the last fiscal was Rs 12,48,141 crore as compared to Rs 11,07,732 crore during the same period last year.