Food exports dip 4pc to $4272mn in 11 months

ISLAMABAD: The food exports from the country witnessed decreased of 4.61 percent by going down to $4272.750 million during the first 11 months of the ongoing fiscal year compared to the exports of $4479.357 million during the corresponding period of fiscal year 2017-18, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The food commodities that contributed in negative growth of food group trade included, vegetables, exports of which decreased by 3.37 percent, from $228.894 million during July-May (2017-18) to $221.180 million during July-May (2018-19).

The exports of fish and fish preparations also decreased from $423.977 million to $406.565 million, showing decline of 4.11 percent during the period under review while the exports of tobacco decreased by 17.87 percent, from $25.206 million to $20.701 million.

Wheat exports decreased by 35.42 percent, from $222.089 million to $143.417 million whereas the exports of sugar also decreased by 62.23 percent, from $473.915 million last year to $178.978 million during the current fiscal year, the PBS data revealed.

Meanwhile, the food products that witnessed positive growth in external trade included fruits, exports of which increase by 4.34 percent to $393.945 million from $377.558 million whereas the rice exports increased by 1.99 percent, from $1927.410 million to $1889.858 million.

The exports of spices increased from $74.333 million to $83.081 million, an increase of 11.77 percent while the exports of oil seeds, nuts and kernels increased by 101.32 percent, from $36.322 million to $73.125 million.

The exports of all other food items also witnessed growth of 16.56 percent by going up from $519.184 million last year to $605.161 million.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the food exports from the country declined by 8.40 percent from $508.350 million in May 2018 to $465.644 million.

On month-on-month basis, the exports from the country witnessed positive growth of 1.45 percent in May 2019 when compared to the exports of $459.002 million in April 2019.

It is pertinent to mention here that the the country's merchandize trade deficit plunged by 13.62 per cent during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The trade deficit contracted by 13.62 per cent to $29.207 billion during July-May (2018-19) against the deficit of $33.812 billion recorded during July-May (2017-18).

The exports during the period under review witnessed nominal decrease of 0.3% by falling from $21.330 billion during last year to $21.267 billion during the ongoing fiscal year.

On the other hand, the imports declined by 8.47 per cent to $50.474 billion during the period under review from $55.142 billion last year, the data revealed.

On year-on-year basis, the exports declined by 1.72 per cent, from $2.139 billion in May 2018 to $2.102 billion in May 2019 while the imports declined by 12.8 percent from $5.782 billion in May 2018 to $5.042 billion in May 2019, the data revealed.