India-China Trade Deficit Reached 12 Billion US Dollars

According to the data released by Chinese Customs, the India-China trade deficit increased by 34 percent to reach 12 billion US dollars in the first five months of the year, presenting a bleak picture for Indian exports as bilateral trade continued to decline, denting hopes of achieving a trade volume of 100 billion US dollars by 2015.

The India-China bilateral trade touched 26.5 billion US dollars till May 2013. The trade deficit for India has widened year-on-year to 12 billion US dollars, up by 34 percent. The trade volume was lowered by over two billion US dollars compared to 2012.
The trade deficit touched about 30 billion US dollars in 2012, causing concerns in India. While the Chinese exports registered marginal increase the bilateral trade numbers are falling.

Exports have declined substantially while imports have risen marginally. Much to the disquiet of India, its main items of exports like cotton, iron ore and copper have continued their downward slide.

Iron ore declined sharply by 76 percent to 595.42 million US dollars. Cotton and copper declined year-on-year by 40 percent to 1.39 billion US dollars and 24 percent to 688.53 million US dollars respectively.

India's overall share in Chinese exports has dropped to under 1 percent from 1.33 percent, the data showed. Cotton yarn and diamonds are the other two exports that rounded off the top five. Cotton yarn is the sole bright spot showing a jump of 115 percent to reach a value of 740 million US dollars.

Diamonds increased at a modest 14 percent to record 562.1 million US dollars. The Chinese exports to India maintained an even keel, rising by 2.7 percent year-on-year. The India-China trade deficit increased by 34 percent to reach 12 billion US dollars in the first five months of the year, presenting a bleak picture for Indian exports as bilateral trade continued to decline, denting hopes of achieving a trade volume of 100 billion US dollars by 2015.