ISLAMABAD: Exports continued showing a downward trend for the second consecutive month, declining by 15.35 percent in November on a Year-on-Year (YoY) basis and swelled the trade deficit to USD 37.17 billion in the first five months of FY26, which is USD 5 billion higher than the total export proceeds of FY25.
The statistics released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed a very gloomy picture of the country’s exports, which declined to USD2.4 billion compared to USD2.83 billion in the same period of last year. On a Month-on-Month (MoM) basis, the exports are down by 15.8 percent compared to the export proceeds of October.
On the other hand, the imports showed an increase of 5.42 percent on a YoY basis, reaching USD5.25 billion in November compared to USD4.98 billion in the corresponding period of last year. However, on a MoM basis, the imports declined by 13.7 percent as imports were USD6.1 billion in October.
‘Trade deficit widens to $26.35bn due to surging imports’
In the July-November period of FY26, the total export proceeds stood at USD 12.84 billion compared to USD 13.7 billion in the same period of last year. Whereas imports reached USD28.3 billion in the July-November period of FY26 compared to USD25 billion in the same period of last year, showing an increase of 13.26 percent.
Until now, the textile exports showed positive signs mainly because of an exceptional increase of 32 percent in textile exports in the month of July. However, according to the leading textile exporter, the spike in exports happened when the protestors ended their protest at the Super Highway, and the stuck export consignments of almost two months from upcountry were able to reach the port and ultimately reached the buyers abroad. “If we kept the July exports aside, the textile exports were going downwards,” he observed. He said that until and unless the government slashed the electricity cost to 7 to 8 cents, the textile industry would not be able to compete in the international market. The Existing electricity rate of 12 cents per unit is not economically viable for the industry, and the LNG is also becoming very expensive for the textile industry to run its captive power plants.
The food exports and especially the rice exports were jolted by the floods. Inthe July-October FY26 period, food exports declined by 35 percent. Among food items, the major casualty is rice, which exports nosedived by 46.4 percent with a decline of 39 percent in Basmati rice and a 49.65 percent reduction in IRRI-6 &9 rice. The aftermath of floods hit the vegetable and tobacco exports badly, which are down by 41 percent and 28.5 percent, respectively. During the corresponding period, among the food groups, only fish & fish preparations and fruit exports showed an upward trend of 12.8 percent and 11.78 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the export of services in the July-October period of FY26 increased by 15.95 percent to reach USD3 billion, and imports also up by 12 percent to reach USD4.1 billion.
Alone in October, the services exports remained 825 million, up by 2.45 percent on a MoM basis and 17.61 percent on a YoY basis. Whereas the import of services in October reached 1.05 billion, up by 4 percent on a MoM basis and 12.81 percent on a YoY basis.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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