August exports growth slows as trade gap hits 4-mth high

Growth rate of India's exports slipped to 5-month low of 2.35 per cent in August at $26.95 billion, pushing up the trade deficit  to $10.83 billion.

Gold imports jumped significantly to $2.03 billion last month, from $738.7 million a year ago.

Exporters body FIEO attributed the poor performance of exports to slowdown in European markets.

"The situation in EU is still bad. The exporters are waiting for the new foreign trade policy. We are expecting measures to boost exports," FIEO president Rafeeq Ahmed said.

Trade deficit in August was highest in the last four months. It was $10 billion in April when exports had recorded a low growth of 5.26 per cent.

According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry data, overall imports grew only 2.08 per cent to $37.79 billion.

Exports in May and June had registered a growth of 12.4 per cent and 10.22 per cent respectively. In July, export growth slipped further to 7.33 per cent.

For the April-August period- first five months of the current fiscal - exports have grown 7.31 per cent to $134.79 billion. Imports, however, have dipped by 2.69 per cent to $190.94 billion.

Trade deficit during the five months has reached $56.15 billion, lower than $70.6 billion in the year-ago period.

Oil imports declined by 14.97 per cent in August to $12.83 billion. However, non-oil imports during the month were up by 13.82 per cent to $24.95 billion.

Due to restrictions on gold imports, gems and jewellery exports dipped by 10.31 per cent to $3.23 billion in August. Similarly, overseas shipments of electronic goods declined by 17.67 per cent to $547 million.

The other exporting sectors which recorded negative growth in August include tea, coffee, rice, tobacco, spices, oil meals, iron ore and petroleum products.

However, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and engineering exports registered a growth of 7 per cent, 2.66 per cent and 22.2 per cent, respectively.

As for imports, sectors which recorded negative growth include fertiliser, coal, petroleum, transport equipment, project goods and silver.