Food exports up 33pc to $388.829bn in July

ISLAMABAD: Food exports from the country surged 33.12 percent during the first month of the current fiscal year (2011-12) to reach at $388.829 million as against the exports $292.085 million during the same month of the last fiscal year.

However, as compared to the exports of $177.709 million of June 2011, food exports in July 2011 witnessed increase of 1.69 percent, Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) reported.

The commodities that witnessed increase in exports during July 2011 over July 2010 included fruits, exports of which increased by 48.95 percent.

Similarly, the exports of vegetables increased by 47.56 percent, leguminous vegetables (pulses) 100 percent, tobacco 35.74 percent, wheat 100 percent, spices 60.27 percent, meat and meat preparations 92.35 percent while the exports of all other food commodities surged by over 289 percent.

The commodities that witnessed negative growth in exports in July 2011 over July 2010 included rice, exports of which decreased by 17.11 percent. Among the rice commodities, the exports of basmati rice decreased by 6.54 percent and other rice commodities by 26.57 percent.

Similarly, the exports of fish and fish preparations from the country during July 2011 witnessed slight down fall of 0.84 percent, the FBS data revealed.

However, as compared to the exports of June 2011, the exports of rice witnessed positive growth of 1.69 percent. Among the rice commodities, the exports of basmati increased by 9.80 percent while the exports of other rice commodities decreased by 6.19 percent.

Exports of leguminous vegetable (pulses) by 1006 percent, tobacco 19.89 percent while the exports of meat and meat preparations increased 25.50 percent.

The commodities that witnessed negative growth in exports in July 2011 over June 2011 included fish and fish preparations, exports of which decreased 49.99 percent. Similarly, the exports of fruits decreased by 4.96 percent, vegetables 34.59 percent, wheat 60.26 percent, spices 22.33 percent while the exports of oil, seeds, nuts and kernels decreased by 19.4 percent during July 2011 over June 2011.

On the other hand, the textile exports during the first month of the current fiscal year (2011-12) were recorded at $1.121 billion, showing an increase of 14.22 percent over the exports of $982.007 million of the same month of the last fiscal year, Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) reported.

However, the exports of textile group witnessed decrease of 15.26 percent when compared to the exports of $1.323 billion during June 2011.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011