Mumbai: Sri Lanka's exports to India slipped to Rs5,080 crore in 2006 from Rs5,620 crore the previous year even as India exported Rs18,760 crore worth of goods to Sri Lanka in 2006 against exports worth over Rs14,562 crore a year earlier. The fall in Sri Lanka's exports to India has mainly been due to a spat over shipments of vanaspati, spices and copper. Vanaspati, the cooking medium that accounts for 22 per cent of Sri Lanka's total exports, led the drop. "There was a drop in exports to India last year due to problems with vanaspati and even copper exports," said Subhashini Abeysinghe, an economist attached to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Shipments of vanaspati fell 26 per cent in 2006 from the year-ago period, Abeysinghe said, after India brought in fresh limits to protect her local market. Local manufacturers here were forced to close their plants for about six months, as New Delhi revised the quota order, slashing shipments of vanaspati, she pointed out. Vehicles dominated India's exports to Sri Lanka with shipments to the tune of Rs3,390 crore, which rose from Rs2,750 crore in 2005. Other top exports from India included crude oil, cotton, iron and steel, machinery and pharmaceutical products. India and Sri Lanka have a free trade agreement which allows duty-free access to each others' markets for over 4,000 goods and the drop in shipments to India comes despite the bilateral trade pact, Abeysinghe pointed out. The trade deal buoyed bilateral trade between the two countries to an annual $2 billion since the pact was signed in 1998. Sri Lanka's exports, however, have been limited to a few products.
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