INDIA’S FOREIGN TRADE: September 2018

Ministry of Commerce & Industry

Posted On: 15 OCT 2018 9:00 PM by PIB Delhi

India’s overall exports (Merchandise and Services combined) in April-September 2018-19* are estimated to be USD 265.39 Billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 17.38 per cent over the same period last year. Overall imports in April- September 2018-19* are estimated to be USD 321.40 Billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 19.41 per cent over the same period last year.

Note: Services data pertains to April-August 2018-19 as August 2018 is the latest data available as per RBI’s Press Release dated 15th October 2018. It is arrived at by adding Month-wise QE data of RBI’s press release for April to August 2018-19. This data is provisional and subject to revision by RBI. In addition, it may be noted that data for September 2018 is estimated and added to the April-August 2018-19 data of RBI to calculate the Overall Trade Deficit for April-September 2018-19. It will be revised based on RBI’s next press release for September 2018.

I. MERCHANDISE TRADE

EXPORTS (including re-exports)

Exports in September 2018 were US $ 27.95 Billion, as compared to US $ 28.57Billion in September 2017, exhibiting a negative growth of 2.15per cent. In Rupee terms, exports were ₹ 2,01,857.62Crore in September 2018, as compared to ₹ 1,84,088.94 Crore in September 2017, registering a positive growth of 9.65per cent.

In September 2018, major commodity groups of export showing positive growth over the corresponding month of last year are

Cumulative value of exports for the period April-September 2018-19 was US $ 164.04 Billion (Rs.11,25,305.44 Crore) as against US $ 145.75 Billion (Rs.9,38,307.83 Crore) during the period April-September 2017-18, registering a positive growth of 12.54per cent in Dollar terms (19.93per cent in Rupee terms).

Non-petroleum and Non Gems and Jewellery exports in September 2018 were US $ 19.80 Billion, as compared to US $ 20.31 Billion in September 2017, exhibiting a negative growth of 2.49 per cent. Non-petroleum and Non Gems and Jewellery exports in April-September 2018-19 were US $ 119.05 Billion, as compared to US $ 107.91 Billion for the corresponding period in 2017-18, an increase of 10.32 %.

IMPORTS

Imports in September 2018 were US $ 41.93Billion (Rs. 3,02,804.39 Crore), which was 10.45 per cent higher in Dollar terms and 23.78per cent higher in Rupee terms over imports of US $ 37.96 Billion (Rs.2,44,634.86 Crore) in September 2017. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-September 2018-19 was US $ 258.36 Billion (Rs.17,72,283.63Crore), as against US $ 222.42 Billion (Rs.14,31,823.75 Crore) during the period April-September 2017-18, registering a positive growth of 16.16per cent in Dollar terms (23.78 per cent in Rupee terms).

Major commodity groups of import showing high growth in September 2018 over the corresponding month of last year are:

CRUDE OIL AND NON-OIL IMPORTS:

Oil imports in September 2018 were US $ 10.91 Billion (Rs. 78,811.17 Crore), which was 33.59 percent higher in Dollar terms (49.71 percent higher in Rupee terms), compared to US $ 8.17 Billion (Rs. 52,642.37 Crore) in September 2017. Oil imports in April-September 2018-19 were US $ 69.73 Billion (Rs. 4,78,183.10 Crore) which was 50.05 per cent higher in Dollar terms (59.85 percent higher in Rupee terms) compared to US $ 46.47 Billion (Rs. 2,99,147.05 Crore), over the same period last year.

In this connection it is mentioned that the global Brent price ($/bbl) has increased by 42.97% in September 2018 vis-à-vis September 2017 as per data available from World Bank (Pink Sheet).

Non-oil imports in September 2018 were estimated at US $ 31.02 Billion (Rs.2,23,993.22 Crore) which was 4.11 per cent higher in Dollar terms (16.67 percent higher in Rupee terms), compared to US $ 29.79 Billion (Rs. 1,91,992.49 Crore) in September 2017. Non-oil imports in April-September 2018-19 were US $ 188.63 Billion (Rs.12,94,100.53 Crore) which was 7.21 per cent higher in Dollar terms (14.25 percent higher in Rupee terms), compared to US $ 175.95 Billion (Rs. 1132676.70 Crore) in April-September2017-18.

Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports were US $ 28.42 billion in September 2018, recording a positive growth of 1.22 per cent, as compared to Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports in September 2017. Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports were US $ 170.99 billion in April-September 2018-19, recording a positive growth of 7.57 per cent, as compared to Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports in April-September 2017-18.

II. TRADE IN SERVICES (for August, 2018, as per the RBI Press Release dated 15th October 2018)

EXPORTS (Receipts)

Exports inAugust2018 were US $ 16.53 Billion (Rs.1,14,932.55Crore) registering a negative growth of 5.85 per cent in dollar terms,vis-à-vis July 2018. (as per RBI’s Press Release for the respective months).

IMPORTS (Payments)

Imports in August 2018 were US $ 10.35 Billion (Rs. 72,008.45 Crore) registering a negative growth of 4.57 per cent in dollar terms,vis-à-vis July 2018.  (as per RBI’s Press Release for the respective months).

III.TRADE BALANCE

MERCHANDISE: The trade deficit for September 2018 was estimated at US $ 13.98 Billion as against the deficit of US $ 9.40 Billion inSeptember 2017.

SERVICES: As per RBI’s Press Release dated 15th October 2018, the trade balance in Services (i.e. Net Services export) for August, 2018 is estimated at US $ 6.17 Billion.

OVERALL TRADE BALANCE: Taking merchandise and services together, overall trade deficit for April-September 2018-19* is estimated at US $ 56.01 Billion as compared to US $ 43.07 Billion in April-September 2017-18.

*Note: Services data pertains to April-August 2018-19 as August 2018 is the latest data available as per RBI’s Press Release dated 15th October 2018. It is arrived at by adding Month-wise QE dataof RBI’s press release for April to August 2018-19. This data is provisional and subject to revision by RBI. In addition, it may be noted that data for September 2018 is estimated and added to the April-August 2018-19 data of RBI to calculate the Overall Trade Deficit for April-September 2018-19. It will be revised based on RBI’s next press release for September 2018.

…

MERCHANDISE TRADE

EXPORTS & IMPORTS: (US $ Billion)
(PROVISIONAL)
	SEPTEMBER	APRIL-SEPTEMBER
EXPORTS (including re-exports)
2017-18	28.57	145.75
2018-19	27.95	164.04
%Growth 2018-19/ 2017-18	-2.15	12.54
IMPORTS
2017-18	37.96	222.42
2018-19	41.93	258.36
%Growth 2018-19/ 2017-18	10.45	16.16
TRADE BALANCE
2017-18	-9.40	-76.66
2018-19	-13.98	-94.32
EXPORTS & IMPORTS: (Rs. Crore)
(PROVISIONAL)
	SEPTEMBER	APRIL-SEPTEMBER
EXPORTS (including re-exports)
2017-18	1,84,088.94	9,38,307.83
2018-19	2,01,857.62	11,25,305.44
%Growth 2018-19/ 2017-18	9.65	19.93
IMPORTS
2017-18	2,44,634.86	14,31,823.75
2018-19	3,02,804.39	17,72,283.63
%Growth 2018-19/ 2017-18	23.78	23.78
TRADE BALANCE
2017-18	- 60,545.92	- 4,93,515.92
2018-19	-1,00,946.77	-6,46,978.19

SERVICES TRADE

EXPORTS & IMPORTS (SERVICES) : (US $ Billion)
(Provisional)	AUGUST 2018	APRIL-AUGUST 2018-19
EXPORTS (Receipts)	16.53	84.69
IMPORTS (Payments)	10.35	52.63
TRADE BALANCE	6.17	32.06
EXPORTS & IMPORTS (SERVICES): (Rs. Crore)
(Provisional)	AUGUST 2018	APRIL-AUGUST 2018-19
EXPORTS (Receipts)	1,14,932.55	5,74,399.09
IMPORTS (Payments)	72,008.45	3,56,947.14
TRADE BALANCE	42,924.10	2,17,451.95

Note: Services data of 2018-19 pertains to April-August 2018-19 as August 2018 is the latest data available as per RBI’s Press Release dated 15th October 2018. April-August 2017-18 data is arrived by adding Month-wise QE data.

This has been used along with the estimate of service export and import for September 2018, as explained in page-1 for the purpose of this Press note.

Quick Estimates for Selected Major Commodities for September 2018

TRADE: EXPORT

Sl. No.	Commodities	(Values in Rs. crores)		% change
		SEP'17	SEP'18	SEP'18
1	Tea	553.60	527.55	-4.71
2	Coffee	510.55	425.93	-16.57
3	Rice	4096.87	3138.58	-23.39
4	Other cereals	133.70	206.29	54.29
5	Tobacco	594.53	598.60	0.68
6	Spices	1723.20	1794.76	4.15
7	Cashew	439.62	348.34	-20.76
8	Oil Meals	424.19	478.15	12.72
9	Oil seeds	447.56	515.39	15.16
10	Fruits & Vegetables	1185.28	1267.25	6.92
11	Cereal preparations & miscellaneous processed items	805.77	1006.27	24.88
12	Marine Products	5087.16	5111.62	0.48
13	Meat, dairy & poultry products	2592.77	3074.29	18.57
14	Iron Ore	587.10	915.59	55.95
15	Mica, Coal & Other Ores, Minerals including processed minerals	1936.00	2389.58	23.43
16	Leather & leather products	3066.10	2991.46	-2.43
17	Ceramic products & glassware	1207.37	1519.41	25.84
18	Gems & Jewellery	30857.60	27080.06	-12.24
19	Drugs & Pharmaceuticals	10290.71	11973.93	16.36
20	Organic & Inorganic Chemicals	10707.11	14028.49	31.02
21	Engineering Goods	47024.69	50526.80	7.45
22	Electronic Goods	3649.63	5064.76	38.77
23	Cotton Yarn/Fabs./made-ups, Handloom Products etc.	5920.22	6870.90	16.06
24	Man-made Yarn/Fabs./made-ups etc.	2997.41	3125.05	4.26
25	RMG of all Textiles	10704.85	7967.69	-25.57
26	Jute Mfg. including Floor Covering	206.84	223.03	7.83
27	Carpet	932.22	875.57	-6.08
28	Handicrafts excl. handmade carpet	1120.64	1063.47	-5.10
29	Petroleum Products	22367.15	31772.22	42.05
30	Plastic & Linoleum	3642.34	5231.45	43.63
	Sub-Total	175812.78	192112.48	9.27
	GRAND   TOTAL	184088.94	201857.62	9.65

Note 1: Grand total is inclusive of component ‘Other’.

Note 2: The figures for SEPTEMBER'18 and SEPTEMBER'17 are provisional and subject to change

QUICK ESTIMATES FOR SELECTED MAJOR COMMODITIES FOR SEPTEMBER 2018 TRADE: EXPORT

Sl. No.	Commodities	(Values in Million USD)		% change
		SEP'17	SEP'18	SEP'18
1	Tea	85.91	73.05	-14.97
2	Coffee	79.23	58.98	-25.56
3	Rice	635.76	434.61	-31.64
4	Other cereals	20.75	28.57	37.69
5	Tobacco	92.26	82.89	-10.16
6	Spices	267.41	248.53	-7.06
7	Cashew	68.22	48.24	-29.29
8	Oil Meals	65.83	66.21	0.58
9	Oil seeds	69.45	71.37	2.76
10	Fruits & Vegetables	183.93	175.48	-4.59
11	Cereal preparations & miscellaneous processed items	125.04	139.34	11.44
12	Marine Products	789.43	707.83	-10.34
13	Meat, dairy & poultry products	402.35	425.71	5.81
14	Iron Ore	91.11	126.79	39.16
15	Mica, Coal & Other Ores, Minerals including processed minerals	300.43	330.90	10.14
16	Leather & leather products	475.80	414.24	-12.94
17	Ceramic products & glassware	187.36	210.40	12.30
18	Gems & Jewellery	4788.51	3749.91	-21.69
19	Drugs & Pharmaceuticals	1596.92	1658.09	3.83
20	Organic & Inorganic Chemicals	1661.54	1942.59	16.92
21	Engineering Goods	7297.34	6996.69	-4.12
22	Electronic Goods	566.35	701.34	23.84
23	Cotton Yarn/Fabs./made-ups, Handloom Products etc.	918.71	951.45	3.56
24	Man-made Yarn/Fabs./made-ups etc.	465.14	432.74	-6.97
25	RMG of all Textiles	1661.19	1103.32	-33.58
26	Jute Mfg. including Floor Covering	32.10	30.88	-3.80
27	Carpet	144.66	121.24	-16.19
28	Handicrafts excl. handmade carpet	173.90	147.26	-15.32
29	Petroleum Products	3470.96	4399.65	26.76
30	Plastic & Linoleum	565.22	724.42	28.17
	Sub-Total	27282.81	26602.72	-2.49
	GRAND   TOTAL	28567.10	27952.20	-2.15

Note 1: Exports include Re-Exports.

Note 2: The figures for SEPTEMBER'18 and SEPTEMBER'17 are provisional and subject to change Note 3: Grand total is inclusive of component ‘Other’.

QUICK ESTIMATES FOR SELECTED MAJOR COMMODITIES FORSEPTEMBER 2018 TRADE: IMPORT

Sl.No.	Commodities	(Values in Rs. crores)		% change
		SEP'17	SEP'18	SEP'18
1	Cotton Raw & Waste	933.76	391.64	-58.06
2	Vegetable Oil	7507.08	6684.13	-10.96
3	Pulses	1695.83	834.70	-50.78
4	Fruits & vegetables	1227.99	1195.71	-2.63
5	Pulp and Waste paper	635.89	874.51	37.53
6	Textile yarn Fabric, made-up articles	1008.09	1263.08	25.29
7	Fertilisers, Crude & manufactured	3352.83	3605.30	7.53
8	Sulphur & Unroasted Iron Pyrites	96.35	193.45	100.78
9	Metalliferous ores & other minerals	4710.33	3964.62	-15.83
10	Coal, Coke & Briquettes, etc.	10678.47	14793.72	38.54
11	Petroleum, Crude & products	52642.37	78811.17	49.71
12	Wood &  Wood products	3653.14	3767.52	3.13
13	Leather & leather products	535.15	605.35	13.12
14	Organic & Inorganic Chemicals	10007.43	14058.14	40.48
15	Dyeing/tanning/colouring materials.	1510.17	2070.62	37.11
16	Artificial resins, plastic materials, etc.	7993.56	9579.65	19.84
17	Chemical material & products	3479.15	4741.76	36.29
18	Newsprint	522.75	710.11	35.84
19	Pearls, precious & Semi-precious stones	20342.76	19169.51	-5.77
20	Iron & Steel	8353.77	10370.49	24.14
21	Non-ferrous metals	7170.24	9078.53	26.61
22	Machine tools	1761.87	2673.73	51.76
23	Machinery, electrical & non-electrical	18328.61	21408.51	16.80
24	Transport equipment	10297.97	8092.32	-21.42
25	Project goods	1353.10	1341.19	-0.88
26	Professional instrument, Optical goods, etc.	2854.57	3136.58	9.88
27	Electronic goods	32920.08	41098.65	24.84
28	Medicinal & Pharmaceutical products	2967.35	3476.18	17.15
29	Gold	11035.21	18731.31	69.74
30	Silver	2049.26	2133.81	4.13
	Sub-Total	231625.10	288855.99	24.71
	GRAND   TOTAL	244634.86	302804.39	23.78

Note 1: Grand total is inclusive of component ‘Other’.

Note 2: The figures for SEPTEMBER'18 and SEPTEMBER'17 are provisional and subject to change

QUICK ESTIMATES FOR SELECTED MAJOR COMMODITIES FORSEPTEMBER 2018

TRADE: IMPORT 

Sl. No.	Commodities	(Values in Million USD)		% change
		SEP'17	SEP'18	SEP'18
1	Cotton Raw & Waste	144.90	54.23	-62.57
2	Vegetable Oil	1164.96	925.58	-20.55
3	Pulses	263.16	115.58	-56.08
4	Fruits & vegetables	190.56	165.58	-13.11
5	Pulp and Waste paper	98.68	121.10	22.72
6	Textile yarn Fabric, made-up articles	156.44	174.90	11.80
7	Fertilisers, Crude & manufactured	520.29	499.24	-4.05
8	Sulphur & Unroasted Iron Pyrites	14.95	26.79	79.20
9	Metalliferous ores & other minerals	730.95	549.00	-24.89
10	Coal, Coke & Briquettes, etc.	1657.09	2048.56	23.62
11	Petroleum, Crude & products	8169.09	10913.36	33.59
12	Wood & Wood products	566.90	521.71	-7.97
13	Leather & leather products	83.04	83.83	0.95
14	Organic & Inorganic Chemicals	1552.96	1946.70	25.35
15	Dyeing/tanning/colouring materials.	234.35	286.73	22.35
16	Artificial resins, plastic materials, etc.	1240.45	1326.54	6.94
17	Chemical material & products	539.90	656.61	21.62
18	Newsprint	81.12	98.33	21.22
19	Pearls, precious & Semi-precious stones	3156.81	2654.49	-15.91
20	Iron & Steel	1296.35	1436.05	10.78
21	Non-ferrous metals	1112.69	1257.15	12.98
22	Machine tools	273.41	370.24	35.42
23	Machinery, electrical & non-electrical	2844.25	2964.54	4.23
24	Transport equipment	1598.05	1120.58	-29.88
25	Project goods	209.97	185.72	-11.55
26	Professional instrument, Optical goods, etc.	442.97	434.34	-1.95
27	Electronic goods	5108.57	5691.13	11.40
28	Medicinal & Pharmaceutical products	460.48	481.36	4.53
29	Gold	1712.45	2593.81	51.47
30	Silver	318.01	295.48	-7.08
	Sub-Total	35943.80	39999.26	11.28
	GRAND TOTAL	37962.67	41930.78	10.45

Note 1: Imports include Re-Imports.

Note 2: The figures for SEPTEMBER'18 and SEPTEMBER'17 are provisional and subject to change.

Note 3: Grand total is inclusive of component ‘Other’.

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MM/SB