Tobacco export increases 9.72pc during July-October 2020-21

ISLAMABAD: The exports of tobacco from the country witnessed an increase of 9.27 percent during the first four months of financial year 2020-21, against the exports of the corresponding period of last year.

The tobacco exports from the country were recorded at $8.376 million during July-October (2020-21) against the exports of $7.634 million during July-October (2019-20), according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, the exports of tobacco however witnessed decrease of 2.27 percent by going down from 2,949 metric tons to 2,882 metric tons, according to the data.

Meanwhile, on year-to-year basis, the exports of tobacco declined by 21.87 percent during the month of October 2020 when compared to the same month of last year.

The exports of tobacco from the country during October 2020 were recorded at $2.948 million against the exports of $3.773 million in October 2019.

On month-on-month basis, the exports of tobacco witnessed increase of 52.75 percent during October2020 when compared to the exports of $1.930 million in September 2020, the PBS data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall merchandize trade deficit increased by 0.48 percent during the first five months of current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the deficit of the corresponding period of last year.

The deficit during July-November (2020-21) was recorded at $9.685 billion as compared to the deficit of $9.639 billion, showing increase 0.48 percent.

During the period under review, the country s exports registered growth of 2.11 percent, by going up from $9.536 billion last year to $9.737 billion during the current year.

On the other hand, the imports alo increased by 1.29 percent, from $19.175 billion last year to $19.422 billion during the current year.