China has emerged as number one import source for Bangladesh, beating India for the first time, The Daily Star reported on Sunday.

Bangladeshi import from China amounted to 32.14 billion taka ( 494.5 million U.S. dollars) during July-September period of the current fiscal (July 2005-June 2006) against 27.08 billion taka ( 416.6 million dollars) import from India during the same period, according to the statistics of Chief Controller of Import and Export (CCIF).

"China is set to dominate Bangladesh market as the importers here are shifting from India," a top commerce ministry official was quoted as saying by the daily.

Textile fabrics, capital machinery and dyeing chemicals are some of the major items that helped China become the top source of Bangladesh's import in the first three months of the 2005-06 fiscal.

Bangladesh imported textile products worth 16.54 billion taka ( 254.5 million dollars) from China while import from India was 5.26 billion taka (81 million dollars) during the period.

China exported capital machinery worth 6.6 billion taka (101.5 million dollars) while import from India was 3.35 billion taka (51. 5 million dollars) for the same category.

Besides, dyeing chemicals worth 3.73 billion taka (57.5 million dollars) were imported from China against 2.53 billion taka (38.9 million dollars) from India.

On the other hand, iron products, vehicles and spare parts, and mineral products are some of the major items imported more from India than China, CCIF sources said.

"Chinese products are cheap compared to the same standard products of India," an importer at Polwel Market in the capital was quoted as saying.

China offers goods with wide price range and importers become interested in China due to its easy trade procedure and speedy shipment, the importer explained.

China usually sends its products to Bangladesh within 25 days on an average by completing all the formalities while import from India takes 35 days.

Bangladesh's import from India was 123.33 billion taka (about 1. 9 billion dollars) in the 2004-05 fiscal while the amount was 99.1 billion taka (about 1.52 billion dollars) from China during the same period.

Source: Xinhua