The overall import of agricultural and other chemicals was recorded at $1781.297 million in July-September (2015-16) compared to the imports of $1860.369 million during July-September (2014-15), according to the latest trade data.
The chemicals that witnessed negative growth in trade included plastic materials, imports of which decreased by 9.52 percent and declined to $423.300 million compared to the imports of $467.816 million, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Similarly, the imports of medicinal products decreased from $208.792 million last year to $175.660 million this year, showing decrease of 15.87 percent.
On the other hand, the imports of fertilizer (manufactured) witnessed positive growth of 27.18 percent during the period under review. The imports of fertilizer was recorded at $258.134 million during the current fiscal year compared to the imports of $202.969 million during the last fiscal year.
The import of insecticides also increased by 49.12 percent by going up from $31.912 million last year to $47.586 million last year, the PBS data revealed.
Meanwhile, the import of all other agricultural and other chemicals witnessed decrease of 7.62 percent during the period under review by going up from $948.880 million last year to $876.617 million this year.
On year-on-year basis, the import of agricultural and other chemicals groups decreased by 8 percent during September 2015 compared to September 2014. The imports of this particular category during September 2015 were recorded at $579.607 million compared to the imports of $629.957 million in September 2014.
On month-on- month basis, the imports of chemicals during September 2015, however increased by 1,64 percent when compared to the imports of $570.248 million recorded during August 2015.
It is pertinent to mention here that during the first quarter of the current fiscal year,the overall trade deficit narrowed by 15.03 percent as revealed by the PBS data, owing to decline in imports as well as exports.
The imports during the period stood at $10.656 billion in July-September (2015-16) whereas the exports from the country stood at $5.155 billion during the period.
Based on the figures, the trade deficit was recorded at $5.501 percent during current year compared to the deficit of $6.474 billion during the corresponding period of last year, showing decline of 15.03 percent.