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India's bilateral trade with Singapore up 16.3 per cent
Prema Viswanathan
SINGAPORE, January 20: India's exports to Singapore declined by 8.8 per cent in December, even as its annual exports for 1997 increased by 8.5 per cent over the previous year. India's imports from the city state, on the other hand, registered an appreciable 12.7 per cent spurt from last year, climbing from S$2.9 billion to S$3.3 billion.According to the latest figures released by the Trade Development Board on Tuesday, India's bilateral trade with Singapore, exceeded S$4.9 billion in 1997, an increase of 16.3 per cent over 1996. Singapore's total trade expanded by 3.9 per cent in the last year, to touch S$239 billion, exports rising by 3.8 per cent to cross S$S$111 billion. While analysts predict a fall in Indian exports to Singapore, as also the Asean, in the next few months, because of the depreciation in the regional currencies, they caution that it would be premature to attribute December's decline to this factor. This is because around 40 per cent of India's exports to Singapore are actually
re-exports to other countries. Indian traders in the region foresee a decline in exports of consumer items like gems and jewellery and textiles, although trade in products like light engineering goods, machinery, electronic items, software etc. could remain steady. Interestingly, in contrast to the decline in India's exports to Singapore in December, China's exports for the same month soared by a staggering 47 per cent, up from S$617.7 million in 1996 to S$912.3 million in 1997. China's overall exports for 1997 touched S$8.4 billion, an increase of 34.9 per cent over the previous year. The statistics make for an intriguing comparison, since China's yuan has remained even more steady than the Indian rupee. Despite being shored up through RBI intervention, has nevertheless lost 10 per cent of its value. Cost-competitiveness apart, much remains to be done to enhance India's exports to Asean countries, as former Asean secretary general Ajit Singh pointed out at the CII"s plenary session at Chennai
earlier this month. He had pointed to the misconceptions that reigned on both sides, leading Asean members to regard Indian products to be inferior. Japan continues to be Singapore's largest trading partner in Asia, notching S$47.7 billion in bilateral trade, S$34.6 billion being Japan's exports to the city state.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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