Food group: Exports up by 32% YoY, imports surge by 91% YoY in March’21

April 19, 2021 (MLN): The trade value of food exports from the country in March’21 stood at $478.6 million, showing an increase of 32% YoY from $362.5mn in March 2020, when the demand was disrupted by covid-19 pandemic.

On a sequential basis, the total receipts from the exports of food items surged by 16.5% MoM from $410.7mn last month.

The food group contributed 17.8% of the total exports during July-March FY21 which clocked in at $3.33billion, showing a decrease of 1.84% YoY when compared to the same period last year, as per latest data revealed by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Commodity wise, rice remained the major source of foreign exchange earnings as its exports valued at $222.5mn showcasing the increase of 23.42%MoM while the subgroup, Basmati Rice witnessed major growth of 73.08% MoM. Similarly, the export of fish & fish preparations were stood at $52.4mn depicting a significant increase of 70.14% MoM and 35.53% YoY.

Similarly, meat and meat preparations also observed a significant raise of 27.14% MoM. On the flip side, fruits’ exports came down by 27.24% on a MoM basis whereas compared to the last year exports of fruits increased by 16.85%.

On the import side, the total import bill of food group amounted at $776.5mn showcasing a huge upsurge of 91% on YoY basis against the same period of last year due to restoring demand of consumers after relaxation to the strict lockdown situation. While the same group recorded growth of 10.2%MoM compared to the last month.

Collectively, the group accounted for almost 15.5% of the total imports during 9MFY21 as per the data released by PBS, up by 54.45% YoY to clock in at $6.12bn.

Data further revealed that imports of Palm Oil which recorded a growth of 26.6% MoM, valued at $275mn during March’21. While a notable decline was seen in wheat imports as it dropped by around 44.42% MoM to stand at $67.4mn whereas on YoY basis, the import of wheat recorded 100% increase during the said period when compared to the previous year.

One of the major imported food commodities is milk and dairy products positioned at $21 million during March’21witnessing the growth of 18.5%MoM and 114.81YoY. Likewise, the import of tea stood at $55.8mn showing an uptick of double digit growth 29.21% MoM whereas on YoY basis, data reported meager growth of 7.54%.

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