THURSDAY, MARCH 07, 2002
India-China trade sets new record in 2001
PTI
BEIJING: Despite the global economic slowdown, India-China bilateral trade set a new record in 2001 with trade volume reaching $3.6 billion, latest statistics show.
According to statistics released by China's General Administration of Customs, India-China trade in 2001 amounted to $3.596 billion, up 23.4 per cent over 2000.
Indian exports to China in 2001 amounted to $1.7 billion, up 21.3 per cent while Chinese exports to India reached $1.896 billion, up 25.6 per cent. China enjoyed a trade surplus of $196 million.
India also maintained its position as China's biggest trading partner in South Asia.
India's main export items to China last year were minerals, chemicals, textile raw materials and products, plastics and rubber products and base metals.
Minerals was the biggest Indian export item to China in 2001 with the value amounting to $682.138 million. Textile raw materials and products came second at $204.670 dollars. Chemicals came third with the sector earning $203.115 million from China.
Plastics and rubber products earned $167.349 million while base metal and products accounted for $82.048 million.
Plastics has been one of the new items that has found a big market in China after the Indian embassy here identified it as a major export item, first secretary (commerce) in the embassy, Dinesh Patnaik said.
He pointed out that from seven million dollars in 1999, plastics exports from India to China skyrocketed to $166 million in 2001.
Chemical products continued to be the leading foreign exchange earner for China in 2001 with total exports to India amounting to $514.146 million.
Machinery and electronic products, items identified by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) as items of immense potential in India, came second with exports valued at $407.433 million.
Minerals came third with exports amounting to $336.211 million, followed by textile raw material and products totalling $301.233 million.
Base metals and products came fifth with exports earning $81.766 million. Optical, medical instruments also found good market in India with total exports of this sector amounting to 61.448 million in 2001.
While India-China trade is making double-digit growth, officials say the bilateral trade figure does not reflect the potentials of the two neighbouring nations which combined have a population of over 2.3 billion.
Our bilateral trade volume still accounts for a small portion of our respective foreign trade, that is, 0.5 per cent of China's total foreign trade volume and two per cent of India's, a senior Chinese official said, adding that there is great potential to be tapped.
China's total foreign trade volume touched a record $509.77 billion in 2001, an increase of 7.5 per cent from 2000.
Of the total, exports were valued at $266.16 billion, up 6.8 per cent; and imports totalled $243.61 billion dollars, up 8.2 per cent.
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