ISLAMABAD: The exports of fish and fish preparations decreased by 9.72 percent during the first five months of current fiscal year as compare to the corresponding period of last year.

The fish exports from the country reduced to $166.376 million during July-November (2020-21) against the exports of $184.294 million during July-November (2019-20), showing decline of 9.72 percent, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

In terms of quantity, the fish exports decreased by 0.57 percent to 73,421 metric tons during the period under review compared to the exports of 73,839 metric tons last year.

The overall exports of good group during the period under review decreased by 12.44 percent, from $1757.703 million to $1538.969 million.

On year-on-year basis, the seafood exports decreased by 18.94 percent during the month of November as compared to the corresponding month of last year, the seafood exports during November 2020 were recorded at $44.287 million against the exports of 54.636 million in November 2019.

On month-on-month basis, the seafood exports however witnessed increase of 1.42 percent in November 2020 when compared to the exports of 43.669 million in October 2020, the data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandize exports increased by 2.21 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports during July-November (2020-21) were recorded at $9.747 billion against the exports of $9.536 billion in July-November (2019-20), showing growth of 2.21 percent according to PBS data.

The imports during the period under review also increased 1.63 percent by going up from $19.175 billion last year to $19.487 billion during the current fiscal year. Based on the figures, there has been slight increase of 1.05 percent in the trade deficit during the period under review as it was recorded at $9.740 billion as compared to the deficit of $9.639 billion during last year.