External Trade Statistics
4th Quarter & Year 2009
Highlights

1. Balance of Trade

Total exports for the fourth quarter of 2009 stood at Rs 16,597 million against imports of Rs 35,501 million resulting in a trade deficit of Rs 18,904 million.

Total exports for the year 2009 amounted to Rs 61,784 million and imports Rs 118,303 million. This resulted in a trade deficit of Rs 56,519 million, 12.0% lower than the figure of Rs 64,195 million for the previous year. It is to be noted that exclusive of the purchase of aircraft in 2009, the trade deficit for 2009 over 2008 showed a decrease of 16.4%.

2. Exports

Total export proceeds for the fourth quarter of 2009 were valued at Rs 16,597 million, showing an increase of 2.4% over the previous quarter but a decrease of 16.4% over the corresponding quarter of 2008.

For the year 2009, 41.9% of exports consisted of “articles of apparel and clothing accessories” (Rs 23,592 million), 11.7% of sugar (Rs 6,610 million) and 16.1% of “fish and fish preparations” (Rs 9,041 million).

The main export market for the year 2009 remained the European continent with a share of 66.5%, while on a country-wise basis, our main buyers were the United Kingdom (27.0%), France (16.6%), USA (8.3%) and Madagascar (6.4%).

3. Imports

Total imports for the fourth quarter of 2009 reached Rs 35,501 million, i.e an increase of 22.8% over the previous quarter and a slight increase of 0.6% over the corresponding quarter of 2008. Total imports exclusive of aircraft worth Rs 2,862 for the fourth quarter of 2009 showed a decrease 7.5% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2008

In 2009, “Machinery and transport equipment” accounted for 23.4% of our imports, “Food and live animals” 18.7%, “Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material” 18.1% and “Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials” 15.5%.

The Asian countries supplied 49.8% of the imported products for the year 2009 and another 28.7% came from European countries. The main source of imports were from India (18.7%), followed by China (12.6%) and France (11.7%).

March 2010