Total import of sensitive items for the period April-January 2011 has been recorded to be Rs.58715 crores as compared to Rs.54375crores during the corresponding period of last year thereby showing an increase of 8%. The gross import of all commodities during same period of current year was Rs.1248141crores as compared to Rs 1107732 crores during the same period of last year. Thus import of sensitive items constitutes 4.9% and 4.7% of the gross imports during last year and current year respectively.

Imports of pulses, cotton & silk, spices and tea & coffee have declined at broad group level during the period. Imports of all other items viz. edible oil, automobiles, fruits & vegetables (including nuts), rubber, products of SSI, milk & milk products, alcoholic beverages, marble & granite and food grains have increased during the period under reference.

In the edible oil segment, the import has increased from Rs21235 crores last year to Rs 23991 crores for the corresponding period of this year. A significant feature of edible oil import is that import of crude oil has gone up by 17.4% and that of refined oil have gone down by 9.9%. The increase in edible oil import is mainly due to substantial increase in import of crude palm oil and its fractions.

Imports of sensitive items from Indonesia, China P RP, Argentina, Malaysia, Korea RP, United States of America, Germany, Ukraine, Thailand, Australia, United Kingdom, Tanzania REP, Vietnam, SOC REP etc. have gone up while those from Myanmar, Brazil, Canada, Japan Cote D’ Ivoire, Czech Republic etc. have gone down.