Palm oil imports increase 34.83pc to $1.86bn in 3 quarters

ISLAMABAD: The palm oil imports into the country increased by 34.83 percent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year against the imports of the same period of last year.

The palm oil imports during July-March (2020-21) were recorded at $1860.935 million against the imports of $1380.245 million during July-March (2019-20), showing increase of 34.86 percent, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, Pakistan imported 2,443,293 metric tons of palm oil during the period under review as compared to the imports of 2,277,022 metric tons last year, showing increase of 7.3 percent.

On the other hand, the soyabean oil imports also increased by 6.72 percent by going up from $45.286 million last year to $48.327 during the current fiscal year.

In terms of quantity, the soyabean oil imports increased from 65,943 metric tons to 72,776 metric tons, showing an increase of 10.36 percent.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the palm oil imports increased by 39.63 percent in March 2021 as compared to the imports of February 2020. The palm oil imports were recorded at $275.550 million in March 2021 against the imports of $197.346 million in March 2020, the PBS data revealed.

On month-on-month basis, the palm oil imports into the country increased by 26.66 percent in March 2021 when compared to the imports of $217.551 million in February 2021.

However, the soyabean imports on year-on-year basis witnessed 100 percent decrease as there were no imports during the month against the imports of $0.327 million in March 2020.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandize exports increased by 7.12 percent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports from the country during July-March (2020-21) were recorded at $18.685 billion against the exports of $17.443 billion during July-March (2019-20), according to the latest PBS data.

The imports during the period under review also increased by 13.57 percent by growing from $34.791 billion last year to $39.512 billion during the first three quarters of current fiscal year.

Based on the figures, the country’s trade deficit increased by 20.05 percent during the first three quarters as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The trade deficit during the period was recorded at $20.827 billion against the deficit of $17.348 billion last year, according to the PBS data.