Food: Exports fall by 30.56%, imports down by 20.61%, YoY in May’20

June 17, 2020 (MLN): The export bill of food group witnessed a decrease of 30.56% YoY and 5.18% MoM to stand at $321 million in the month of May 2020. Similarly, the imports of the food group into the country were recorded at $421 million, showing a decrease of around 20.61% YoY and 18.78% MoM when compared to the same period of last year and last month respectively.

According to the latest data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on export receipts by commodities, the food group contributed 20.48% of the total exports during 11MFY20 which clocked in at $4.056 billion, showing a decrease of 5.02% YoY when compared to the same period last year.

The food group accounted for 12% of the total imports during Jul-May FY20 as per the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, showing a decline of 6.30% YoY to clock in at $4.90 billion.

On the exports side, Rice and fruits were the major sources of Foreign exchange earnings as their exports valued at $2.02 billion and $397 million, depicting a growth of only 5.05% and 1.18% YoY respectively during 11MFY20 where the major growth of foreign earnings was recorded in Basmati rice, up by 27.62% YoY. However, Fish & Fish Preparations, one of the main export food commodities, witnessed a decline of 8.16% to $373 million during Jul-May FY20.

The exports of vegetables and meat and meat preparations surged by 29.27% and 27.32%, YoY, to $284 million and $278 million during the period under review, the PBS data revealed.

On the import side, the data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics revealed that imports of milk and dairy products dropped by 30.52% YoY, amounted to 56,812 metric tons, recorded at $151 million during 11MFY20.

One of the major imported food commodities is Palm Oil which recorded a negative meager growth of 0.06% YoY, worth a total of $1.70 billion during 11MFY20. while a sharp decline was seen in tea imports as It dropped by around 12.86% YoY to stand at $473 million during 11MFY20 when compared to the same period of FY19.

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