Exports to prominent trading partners on the edge of a slope

May 23, 2019 (MLN): Pakistan shipped US$20 billion worth of products around the globe during Jul- April 2018-2019, depicting a decline of 2% compared to same period last year. Despite a massive rupee devaluation and number of initiatives taken by the current government for enhancement of exports, Pakistan has failed to increase its exports in the last couple of months.

Diversifying the export market would be a key in the enhancement of export proceeds as Pakistan's exports rely on only few markets i.e. the United States, China, UK, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Germany and Netherlands.

As per the data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), among the top trading partners, the United States of America (USA) remained the top export destinations of the Pakistani products during the first ten months of the current fiscal year as its  share of imports in Pakistan's overall exports increased to 17% from 15.5% in Jul-April FY18, followed by United Kingdom (UK) and China as their imports accounted for 7.3% of Pakistan’s exports during Jul-April FY19.

The total exports to the USA during July-April FY19 were recorded at $3.36 billion against the exports of $3.18 billion during July-April (2017-18), showing an increase of 6% percent during the period.

Meanwhile, United Kingdom exported goods worth $1.46 billion from Pakistan against the exports of $1.47 billion last year, showing a decline of 1%percent.

On the other hand, despite FTA signed between Pakistan and China, the growth in China's imports from Pakistan did not witness any significant increase as the exports from Pakistan to China during the period under review increased by 2% to $1.47billion as compared to the exports of $1.45 billion recorded during Jul-April 2017-18.

Among other countries, Pakistan’s exports to Germany stood at $1 billion against $1.13 billion during last year, showing a decline of 5% while the exports to Afghanistan were recorded at $983 million against $1.3 billion last year, down significantly by 24%.

The exports to UAE were recorded at $1 billion against $1.1 billion whereas the exports to Netherlands were recorded at $799.4 million against $642.16 million last year, showing an increase of 24%.

During the period under review, the exports to Spain were recorded at $780.4 million against $790.8 million whereas, the exports to Italy stood at $649.5 million against $623.4 million.

Pakistan’s exports to Bangladesh were recorded at $632.1 million against $589.4 million last year, showing an increase of 7%. Whereas, the exports to India during the period under review were recorded at $298.2 million against $337 million last year, depicting a decline of 12%.

Similarly, the exports to Iran declined massively by 75% to $4.2 million, compared to $17 million in the same period last year.

Copyright Mettis Link News