According to the latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the Total Agricultural and Chemical imports during the month of March clocked in at $703.364 million; posting a growth of 13.59 percent from February’s imports of $619.203 million.

 Compared to that, year on year growth in the Chemical and Agricultural Imports also went up by more than 15 percent during the month of March. The imports during the month of Mach 2018 vs March 2017 grew by $92.412 million on the back of rising agricultural output.

Agriculture and Chemical imported to Pakistan mainly include Manufactured Fertilizer, Insecticides, Plastic material, Medicinal Products and other Agricultural and Chemical products

The major chunk of imports under the Agriculture and Chemical Products was mainly in the Plastic Materials which contributed a total of 31.46 percent of the entire imports. Total Plastic Material imports during the months of March, 2018 clocked in by $221.265 million up from $184.964 million same month last year.

SBP data reveals major chunk of Fertilizer Imports came under the Fertilizer Manufactured head, with total import bill for the subhead reaching $29.598 million. Year on year imports for Fertilizer Manufactured went up by more than 430 percent during March, 2018 indicating a strong increase in local demand. On the contrary, however, the year on year imports under the Insecticides came down by 29.03 percent reaching $9.644 million compared to $8.521 million last year.  

Furthermore, month on month imports in Others head also went by 16.37 percent during March, 2018 with an year on year increase of 5.96 percent. Total Others imports clocked in at $383.009 million during the month of March.