The cement exports from the country were recorded at $271.726 million during July-June (2018-19) as against the exports of $ 222.841 million during July-June (2017-18), showing growth of 21.94 percent, according to the latest data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

In terms of quantity, the export of the cement witnessed an increase of 40.41 percent from 4,562,634 metric tons to 6,406,418 metric ton, according to the data.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the cement exports, however witnessed declined of 29.17 percent during the month of June 2019 when compared to the same month of last year.

The cement exports in June 2019 were recorded at $ 11.556 million against the exports of $16.315 million in June 2018, the PBS data revealed.

On month-on-month basis, the exports of cement also witnessed an decreased of 32.22 percent in June 2019 when compared to the exports of $17.050 million in May 2019.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country's merchandize trade deficit plunged by 15.33 per cent during the fiscal year 2018-19 compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The trade deficit contracted to $31.820 billion during July-June (2018-19) against the deficit of $37.583 billion recorded during July-June (2017-18).

The exports during the period under review witnessed decrease of one per cent by falling from $23.212 billion during last year to $22.979 billion during the ongoing fiscal year. On the other hand, the imports declined by 9.86 per cent to $54.799 billion during the period under review from $60.795 billion last year, the data revealed.

On year-on-year basis, the merchandize exports declined by 8.77 per cent, from $1.882 billion in June 2018 to $1.717 billion in June 2019 while the imports declined by 22.80 per cent from $5.652 billion in June 2018 to $4.364 billion in June 2019, the data revealed.