Exports To Europe, Russia Plunge

Exports to Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia led the slowdown in 1996-97, registering negative rates of growth.

The commodities that recorded negative growth during the year include tea, coffee, cereals, leather and leather goods, gems and jewellery, and computer software.

According to the latest full year disaggregated data, several items like tea, coffee, rice, castor oil, coal, mica, leather and jute goods witnessed negative growth rates of over 10 per cent.

The rate of export growth in 1996-97 stood at 4.01 per cent against the target of 20 per cent. In value terms, exports fell short of the $38 billion target by $5 billion.

 

Import growth during 1996-97 averaged 6 per cent with the bulk accruing through oil imports, which grew at 34 per cent. Non-oil imports grew at a dismal 1 per cent.

Among the regions, exports to Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand showed a decline. Exports to Bangladesh fell by 22 per cent and to Thailand by 6 per cent.

Exports to North America, Canada, the United States and South America were healthy, with exports to Brazil rising by 54 per cent from $86 million in 1995-96 to $132 million in 1996-97.

The sectors that did reasonably well include agriculture and allied products, marine products, basic chemicals and electronic goods.

Ready-made garments export rose by 1.88 per cent, while textile exports rose by 7 per cent. Exports of engineering goods grew at 9 per cent.

Textile exports up 5.5%

Textile exports in April this year rose by 5.5 per cent in dollar terms to touch $975 million. The target for 1997-98 has been set at $13.3 billion (inclusive of handicraft, jute and coir).

The rise, measured in rupee terms, is 10.7 per cent.

The star performers in textile exports were cotton yarn (rise of 34 per cent) followed by wool and woollens (24.8 per cent) and cotton fabrics (22.5 per cent).

The handloom sector performed well with exports rising by 23 per cent over April 1996.

Man-made textile exports are valued at $80.66 million, registering a rise of 9.7 per cent, while man-made garment export fell by 14 per cent.