Food exports clock in at $326mn, up by 48% in Aug’21

September 17, 2021 (MLN): The trade value of food exports from the country in August’21 stood at around $325.75million, showing a robust surge of 48% YoY from $220mn in August 2020.

However, on MoM basis, the export volume of this group dropped by 3% compared to the same period last year. 

The overall contribution of this group remained 14.5% of the total exports during August’21, as per the latest data revealed by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Commodity-wise, Rice remained to be the major source of foreign exchange earnings in August’21 as its exports valued at $140.5mn, jumped by 42% YoY. However, on a mom basis, the same product witnessed a meagre increase in the export volume, up by only o.5%.

The export of fish & fish preparations stood at $10.71mn, showing a decline of 24.71% MoM and 22.64% YoY.

Meanwhile, the export volume of meat and meat preparations clocked in at $25.5mn, moved up by 9.67% YoY while, on a MoM basis, the export volume of similar products expanded by 6%.

Vegetable exports’ have seen a notable growth during the month as the export volume of vegetables climbed up by 27% MoM while, on YoY basis, the same commodity observed a massive surge by 2x to stand at 21.42mn. Likewise, exports of fruits increased by 34.5% YoY, whereas on a MoM basis, the exports has come down by 20.43% compared to the same period last year.

 On the import side, the total import bill of the food group amounted to $826mn, depicting a surge of 83% on a YoY basis against the same period of last year.

Collectively, the group accounted for almost 12.52% of the total imports during August’21 as per the data released by PBS.

The data further revealed that import of Palm Oil valued at $323mn, showcasing an enormous surge of 120% YoY, while on MoM basis, the import bill has increased by 27.16%. 

Moreover, the import bill of milk, cream and milk food for infants positioned at $9.67mn, during the said period, plunged by 8.41% MoM and 12.45% YoY.

The import bill of tea inflated by 50.72% MoM while, the import bill on yearly basis surged by 24.55% to stand at $10.17mn.   

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