Food exports from the country grew by 9.70pc in the first two months of the current financial year compared to the last year’s corresponding period.
In 2022-23, food commodities worth $725.024 million were exported from the country, while food products worth $1.783 billion were imported to fulfill local demand. In comparison, exports totaled $660.345 million in corresponding period last year.

Rice exports increased by 0.73 percent in the past two months, fish and fish preparations by 52.07 percent, vegetables by 53.12 percent, pulses by 100 percent, and tobacco by 97.36 percent. According to statistics published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the commodities that had negative growth in their respective exports were Basmati rice 14.61pc, fruits 27.97pc, spices 14.03pc, and oil seeds and nuts 40.37pc.

On a month on month basis, food group exports from the country during August 2022 witnessed about 13.13pc growth compared to the figures of last year. Food commodities valuing $366.945 million were exported compared to the exports worth $324.349 in the same month of last year. Meanwhile, during the period under review, imports of food commodities into the country witnessed about 21.04pc increase compared to the same period of last year and the country spent an amount of $1.783 billion on the import of food products as against the imports of $1.473 million in the same period of last year.

The commodities which recorded increase in their respective imports included wheat 1,787.31pc, soya beanoil159.33pc, palm oil 24.14pc, and pulses 5.97 pc. However, the imports of dry fruits decreased by 17.56pc, tea 10.86pc, spices 46.48p and sugar 97.90pc. In August 2022, food imports grew by 23.52pc and reached $1.020billion compared to $826.018 million in the same period last year.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk