ISLAMABAD: The cutlery exports from the country decreased by 2.63 percent during the first three quarters of current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan exported cutlery worth $64.468 million during July-March (2018-19) against the exports of $66.212 million during July-March (2017-18), showing negative growth of 2.63 percent, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

On year-on-year basis, the cutlery exports from the country during March 2019 witnessed negative growth of 12.41 percent when compared to the same month of last year. The cutlery exports during March 2019 were recorded at $6.338 million against the export of $7.236 million in March 2018.

Meanwhile, on month-on-month basis, the cutlery export in March 2019 also decreased by 10.14 percent when compared to the export of $7.053 million in February 2019.

It is pertinent to mention here that country's merchandize trade deficit decreased by 13.02 percent during July-March (2018-19) as the deficit contracted by over $3.544 billion to $23.672 billion in the period under review against the deficit of $27.216 billion recorded during same period of the previous year.

The exports during the period under review witnessed an increase of 0.11% to $17.08 billion from $17.064 billion during July-March (2017-18).

On the other hand, the imports declined by 7.96% to $40.755 billion from $44.281 billion recorded during first nine months of current fiscal year.