Trade snippets

India’s exports climbed 13% to $26 billion in August and imports fell marginally as gold imports stalled, helping trim the trade deficit to just under $11 billion and provide much needed support to policymakers battling to shore up the rupee.
A widening trade deficit has been a key contributor to India’s record current account deficit. In recent months, lower demand in the US and Europe pulled down export demand, while imports kept rising due to high oil and gold inflows. A spate of measures announced over the past few months have considerably slowed down shipments of the yellow metal. Trade deficit in August was the lowest since $10.3 billion in March as gold imports declined from $2.2 billion July to $650 million in August, commerce & industry minister Anand Sharma said at a press conference. “The fall in gold imports is not an aberration. It is going down consistently and I expect the trend to continue,” he added. However, crude petroleum imports rose nearly 18% to $151 billion in August as the rise in prices pushed up the bill.
Simultaneously, with the economic situation improving in the West, exports have started rising, prompting the government to talk of a reversal in fortunes. After all, this was the second straight month when the value of shipments out of the country rose at double-digit rates.
Despite the recovery in exports, exporters are demanding more sops.
Sharma said the government is tracking trends on a quarterly basis and may extend a helping hand to the laggards. He, however, ruled out that the rupee depreciation offered significant boost to exporters, arguing that 45% of the input and raw material was imported into the country.