March 20, 2019: Exports of basmati rice from the country during first eight months of current financial year witnessed 14.83 percent increase as compared the corresponding period of last year.
During the period from July-February 2018-19, about 380,063 metric tons of the basmati rice worth US$ 361.671 million exported as compared the exports of 298,559 metric tons valuing US$ 314.975 million of same period last year.
According the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, about 2.500 million tons of rice including basmati as well as other rice valuing US$ 1.257 million exported in 8 months of current financial year as against the exports of 2.665 million tons of same period of last year, showing a decrease of 0.38 percent.
However, on month on month basis, exports of the above-mentioned commodity had recorded about 4.46 percent growth in February 2019 as compared the same month of last year.
In February, country earned US$ 203.067 million by exporting about 417,572 metric tons of rice as against 387,116 metric tons valuing US$ 194.393 million of same month of last year.
During last month about 68,033 metric tons of basmati rice worth of US$ 59.915 million also exported as compared the exports of 54,519 metric tons worth of US$ 59.415 million of same month of last year.
It is worth mentioning here that food group imports into the country during first 8 months of current financial year decreased by 8.25 percent, whereas the exports increased by
1.08 percent. The Imports of the food commodities into the country during the period under review came down from US$ 4.216 billion to US$ 3.868 billion.
Meanwhile, food group exports during the period under review grew by US$ 2.871 billion which were recorded at US$ 2.841 billion during the corresponding period of last year.
