Palm oil imports decrease 10.22pc to $1.386bn in 3 quarters

ISLAMABAD: The palm oil imports into the country witnessed negative growth of 10.22 percent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year against the imports of same period of last year.

The palm oil imports into the country during July-March (2018-19) were recorded at $1386.074 million against the imports of $1543.880 million during July-March (2017-18), showing increase of 10.22 percent, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

In terms of quantity, Pakistan imported 2,325,639 metric tons of palm oil during the period under review compared to the imports of 2,117,612 metric tons last year, showing increase of 9.82 percent.

On the other hand, the soyabean oil imports into the country also decreased by 38.04 percent by going down from $110.568 million last year to $68.503 during the current fiscal year.

In terms of quantity, the soyabean oil imports decreased from 125,193 metric tons to 95,112 metric tons, showing decline of 24.03 percent.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the palm oil imports into the country decreased by 23.93 percent in March 2019 compared to the imports of March 2018. The palm oil imports were recorded at $150.719 million in January 2019 against the imports of $198.128 million in January 2018, the PBS data revealed.

On month-on-month basis, the palm oil imports into the country increased by 12.07 percent in March 2019 when compared to the imports of 134.483 million in February 2019.

Similarly, the soyabean imports on year-on-year basis increased by 246 percent, from $3.080 million in March 2018 to $10.965 million in March 2019.

On month-on-month basis, the soyabean imports witnessed increase of 34.54 percent in March 2019 when compared to the imports of $8.150 million in February 2019, according to the data.

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.