Import orders for dry fruits, pulses rise ahead of Ramadan

FE Team | Published: June 28, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Siddique Islam The country's overall import orders increased slightly in May this year compared to the corresponding period of the previous calendar year ahead of the holy Ramadan, officials said. Opening of letters of credit (LCs) against imports, generally known as imports, rose by 0.38 per cent to US$ 3.17 billion in May, 2013 from $3.16 billion in the same month last year, according to the central bank statistics, released Thursday. "We expect that the rising trend of import orders particularly for consumer items may continue in the first half of this month due to upcoming Ramadan," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE. He also said the import orders for dry fruits and pulses in term of value have increased significantly during the period under review aiming to improve supply situation of the essentials in the market during the holy Ramadan. The import orders for dry fruits including dates rose to $2.96 million in May last from $1.82 million in May 2012 while opening of LCs for pulses reached $51.54 million from $33.66 million. On the other hand, the settlement of LCs, generally known as actual imports, decreased by 4.47 per cent to $2.71 billion in May 2013 from $2.84 billion in the same period of the last year, the BB data showed. The country's overall import orders, however, came down to $3.17billion in May last from $3.29 billion in April 2013 while the actual imports stood at 2.71 billion from $ 2.79 billion. "The import orders for different essential items including fuel oil and back-to-back imports for readymade garment (RMG) increased during the period under review compared with the same period of the previous year," the central banker noted. The import orders for petroleum products increased by over 22 per cent to $311.15 in the month of May this year from $254.63 million one year ago while the opening of back-to-back LCs for RMG products including fabrics and accessories rose to $ 425.62 million in May 2013 from $ 423.84 million in May last year. The import orders for capital machinery came down to $153.21 million in May last from $163.29 million in May 2012 while the actual imports for capital machinery rose to $193.32 million from $159.69 million. "The possibility of increasing import orders for capital machinery is negligible in the near future due mainly to the ongoing political uncertainty," another BB official said. Talking to the FE, a senior official of a leading private commercial bank said the country's overall imports may fall in June due to the national budget and political turmoil. "Most of the importers are now maintaining a 'wait and see' policy for opening fresh LCs particularly for capital machinery."