Spices exports increase 14.65pc to $68.445mn

ISLAMABAD: The exports of spices earned $68.445 million for the country during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2018-19), showing an increase of 14.65 percent when compared to the exports of $59.689 million during the same period of last year.

In terms of quantity, the spices exports increased by 16.64 percent during the period under review against the exports of the same period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The spices exports during July-March (2018-19) were recorded at 18,428 metric tons against the exports of 15,799 metric tons during July-March (2017-18), showing 16.64 percent growth, the PBS data revealed.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the exports of spices witnessed decrease of 0.34 percent by falling from $9.323 million in March 2018 to $9.291 million during March 2019.

On the other hand, the exports of spices witnessed increase of 4.14 percent on month-on-month basis, during March 2019 when compared to the exports of $8.922 million in February 2019, the PBS data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the the country's merchandize trade deficit plunged by 13.02 percent during July-March (2018-19) as the deficit contracted by over US $ 3.544 billion to $23.672 billion in the period under review against the deficit of US $ 27.216 billion recorded during same period of the previous year.

The exports during the period under review witnessed an increase of 0.11% to US $ 17.08 billion from US $ 17.064 billion during July-March (2017-18).

On the other hand, the imports declined by 7.96% to US $ 40.755 billion from US $ 44.281 billion recorded during first nine months of current fiscal year, the data revealed.