Exports dip 2% in Dec, hopes of improvement in Jan-Mar remain

Declining for the eighth month in row, exports contracted by 1.92 per cent in December 2012 to USD 24.8 billion, widening the country's trade deficit to USD 17.6 billion in the same month.

Exports in December 2011 stood at USD 25.3 billion.

The decline, however, is lower compared to November last year when the shipments had declined by 4.17 per cent, raising hopes of further improvement during the last quarter of the fiscal.

Imports, on the other hand, grew by 6.26 per cent to USD 42.5 billion in December, 2012.

During the April-December this fiscal, shipments have shrunk by 5.5 per cent to USD 214.1 billion compared to the same period last year. The contraction is slightly lower compared to about 6 per cent in the April-November period.

Commerce Secretary S R Rao said that the fall in exports have been slightly arrested and "with a new set of incentives, which we get into force from January 1, we expect that in the current quarter (January-March 2013), there will be a further improvement in the export performance".

He said the world trade has not performed well in 2012 and the year was the "worst" in terms of global trade.

"If we look at the WTO forecast for 2012, initially they forecast that the world trade will grow by 3.9 per cent but that has been scaled down thrice and it ended with 2.5 per cent. The 2012 rate of growth in the world trade has been less than half of past 20 year average," he said.

Reacting to fall in exports, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivel said the government should take some steps in the Budget to boost shipments.

Imports in the first nine months of this financial year dipped by 0.71 per cent to USD 361.2 billion. Trade deficit during the period stands at USD 147.2 billion up from USD 137.3 billion in the same period previous year.

... contd.

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