Growth in the volume of world trade is expected to remain sluggish in 2016 at 2.8%, the same as in 2015, the World Trade Organization said in an April report.
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Non-petroleum exports rose 1.79 per cent to $19.08 billion in August 2016; this basket has 14 major commodities, including ready-made garments, engineering goods, gems & jewellery and drugs & pharmaceuticals.
According to RBI data released on Thursday, India’s services exports in July stood at $12.77 billion, a decline of 4.11 per cent; in the year-ago month a 1.03 per cent fall was reported.
On the imports side, July’s figure was down 13 per cent from a year earlier at just under €5 billion, with petrol imports down 35 per cent. Imports for the first seven months of 2016 are 4 per cent lower than the same period last year at nearly €38.2 billion.
There was a substantial decrease in the value of imports of petroleum products which was down by over a third, or €124 million, to €229 million.
Cumulative imports for April-August were worth more than $143.19 billion, which was a 15.89 per cent fall from $170.23 billion worth recorded for the same period a year ago. The precious metal imports dipped by 77.45 per cent to Dollars 1.11 billion in August 2016.
S. C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (Fieo) said “the decline in exports has largely been arrested and we can look for positive growth after a month or so, helping us to reach around $280 billion of exports in 2016-17”.
Oil imports during the month fell by 8.47 % to US$ 6.74 billion.
Exports were in negative zone between December 2014 and May 2016 due to weak global demand and slide in oil prices.
Services imports in July recorded a fall of 11.68 per cent at $7.41 billion, compared with a positive growth of 5.89 per cent in June 2016.
Oil imports during the first five months of this fiscal declined by 22.08% to $32.41 billion.
NEW DELHI-India’s exports edged lower for the second successive month in August, the latest sign of tough conditions facing the South Asian economy.
Further, it said services exports in July contracted by 4.11 per cent to $12.77 billion.
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Despite a challenging sterling exchange rate environment in the first seven months of this year, goods exports were up by 3% on the same period last year.
