Import orders drop further in November

FE Team | Published: December 13, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Siddique Islam The country's overall import orders dropped further in November from the level of the previous month of this calendar year mainly due to lower import of food grains, officials said Monday. The opening of fresh letters of credit (LCs) against imports, generally known as import orders, fell by 10.31 per cent in November last from the level, in value terms, of that of the previous month of the current calendar year. The fall was earlier recorded at 22.55 per cent in October 2011. "The overall import orders fell during the period under review mainly due to drop in the import of food grains, particularly that of a significant decline in import of rice," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE. He also said import orders for wheat were increased in November to meet the growing demand for the food item. The import orders for wheat rose to $117.80 million in November from $19.84 million of the previous month. A total of 3.0 million tonnes of wheat will be imported this year against demand for 4.0 million tonnes for the food grain, the BB official said, adding that the country has been able to produce only1.0 million tonnes of wheat this year. The central banker also said the country has built enough stock for the main staple rice, after a bumper Boro crop in May this year. The stock of food grains with the government, in volume terms, almost doubled to 1.52 million tonnes at the end of October, 2011 against 0.78 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year, according to the official figures. The figures show that import of food grains stood at 0.73 million tonnes during the July-October period of fiscal year (FY) 2011-12. It was 5.31 million tonnes in FY 2010-11. The settlement of LCs, generally known as actual imports, increased by over 5.0 per cent during the period over that of the previous month of this year, according to the central bank statistics. The LCs worth $2.47 billion were opened in November, 2011 compared to $2.76 billion in October, 2011 while the LCs against imports worth $3.09 billion were settled in November against $2.93 billion in October last, the BB's data showed. "The import orders for petroleum products dropped significantly in November over the previous month mainly due to the seasonal effect," another BB official said. He also said the import orders for fuel oils may rise in the coming months for harvesting of Boro crop across the country. The import orders for petroleum products dropped by 19.20 per cent to $398.73 million in November, 2011 from $493.52 million in October last while the LCs against imports worth $520.58 million were settled in November, 2011 against $499.51 million in October last. The BB official also said opening of LCs for import of capital machinery declined by over 47 per cent to $99.41 million in November, 2011, compared to $146.59 million of the previous month. Bankers, however, said the current declining trend about import orders may continue this month as the calendar year is approaching its closure. "Most banks are not interested to open the fresh LCs during the closing month of a calendar year," a senior official of a lending private commercial said, adding that the import orders may increase at the beginning of the new calendar year.