Palm oil imports increase 34pc to $1.585bn in 8 months

ISLAMABAD: The palm oil imports into the country increased by 34.03 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year against the imports of the same period of last year.

The palm oil imports during July-February (2020-21) were recorded at $1585.381 million against the imports of $1182.899 million during July-February (2019-20), showing increase of 34.03 percent, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, Pakistan imported 2,167,242 metric tons of palm oil during the period under review as compared to the imports of 2,012,159 metric tons last year, showing increase of 7.71 percent.

On the other hand, the soyabean oil imports also increased by 7.49 percent by going up from $44.959 million last year to $48.325 during the current fiscal year.

In terms of quantity, the soyabean oil imports increased from 65,558 metric tons to 72,770 metric tons, showing an increase of 11 percent.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the palm oil imports increased by 19.89 percent in February 2021 as compared to the imports of February 2020.

The palm oil imports were recorded at $217.550 million in February 2021 against the imports of $181.465 million in February 2020, the PBS data revealed.

On month-on-month basis, the palm oil imports into the country decreased by 15.01 percent in February 2021 when compared to the imports of $255.967 million in January 2021.

However, the soyabean imports on year-on-year as well as month-on-month basis witnessed 100 percent decrease as there were no imports during the month against the imports of $1182 million in February 2020 and $0.012 million in January 2021.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall merchandize exports from the country increased by 4.29 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports of the country during July-February (2020-21) were recorded at $16.304 billion against the exports of $15.633 billion during July-February (2019-20), according to the latest PBS data.

The imports during the period under review also increased by 7.49 percent by growing from $31.483 billion last year to $33.840 billion during the first eight months of current fiscal year.

Based on the figures, the country’s trade deficit increased by 10.64 percent during the first eight months as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The trade deficit during the period was recorded at $17.536 billion against the deficit of $15.850 billion last year.