Petroleum dependence significant across core sectors, official data shows

New Delhi: Sectors such as land transport, auxiliary transport activities, electricity, agriculture, and air transport have significant exposure to petroleum products in their intermediate inputs, making them vulnerable to rising oil prices amid the Middle East conflict.

According to the latest Supply and Use Tables (SUT) released by the statistics ministry on Friday, petroleum products accounted for 56.7% of intermediate consumption in the iron ore sector in 2023-24. Next was mining at 56%, followed by land transport (54.7%), non-ferrous metals (29.7%), auxiliary transport activities (18.1%), agriculture (9.2%), railway transport (8.7%), air transport (7.8%), and electricity (5.8%). Brent crude prices have climbed to about $100 per barrel from $73 since the conflict began on February 28.