July 23, 2021 (MLN): The import bill during for FY21 reached $53.88billion posted an upsurge of 23.23% compared to FY20.  In the month of June’21 alone, total imports to Pakistan clocked in at $6.32bn, depicting a considerable increase of 77.58% YoY when compared to the import payments of June’20.

Similarly, on a sequential basis, the import bill has increased by 27.48% in the month of June’21, against the import value $4.96bn reported in May’21.

According to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan on import payment by commodities, the major contribution in import bill during June’21 was recorded from Petroleum, Machinery, Agriculture Products & Chemicals, and Food as they accounted for 19.35%, 15.28%, 14.26% and 10.77% of the total import respectively.

During the month, the import bill of Petroleum group expanded 3x YoY while on MoM basis, the same group witnessed a jump of 30% to stood at $1.22bn.

Petroleum crude and petroleum products remained the main products during the month that contributed in the expansion of Petroleum bill on yearly basis by almost 3.36x and 3.3x, respectively. However, on monthly basis, Natural gas liquefied shrank the import bill by 25%.

Meanwhile, the imports of Machineries witnessed a surge of 37.79% yoy. While a notable increment made it to stand at $966mn during the month under review against the imports of $711mn in the previous month and $701mn in June’20.

Under the Machinery group, the major portion of import was associated with Telecom machines which consist of Mobile Phones and other Apparatus as it constituted for 25.34% of the entire group’s import. The import of telecom inched up by 2.58% YoY to $244.87mn, while on monthly basis, the import value has climbed up by 47%.

Within the Telecom, the imports of Mobile Phones jumped significantly by 14.80% YoY to $185.13mn from $161.27mn during June’20. Likewise, the import of mobile phones depicted a hike of 58% on monthly basis.

Also, the import bill of Agriculture and Chemical group which comprises of Manufactured Fertilizer, Insecticides, Plastic material, Medicinal Products, and other Agricultural and Chemical products soared by 55.28% YoY. Meanwhile, on the sequential basis, the import of similar group surged by 10.50% to value at $901mn.

The major chunk of imports under the Agriculture and Chemical Products was mainly in the Plastic Materials which contributed a total of 26.36% of the entire group's imports. Total Plastic Material imports during the period under review recorded at $237.65mn, depicting increase of 49.27% YoY from $159.2mn in June’20.

Food group also appeared as a major contributor in increasing import bill during the month. The main food items that Pakistan imported include palm oil, tea and pulses. The import of palm oil stood at $50.88 during June’21 with the share of 36.86% in total group imports, depicting a surge by 52.64%YoY while on MoM basis, the import of same product moved up by of 6.89%.

Similarly, the import bill of Pulses reported an increase of 33.74% YoY and 12.18% MoM to stand at $78.97mn during June’21. On the other hand, the import bill of tea clocked in at $44.45mn, witnessed a decline of 18.54%YoY whereas on monthly basis, the same commodity posted a surge of 23.85% in June’21.

The imports of other products such as Transport group jumped by 80.73% YoY, while the import bill of Textile and Metals mounted by 93.49% and 93.46% YoY during June’21.

Cumulatively, during FY21, import bill of petroleum group reported an increase of 5.3% YoY to value at $9.75bn when compared to FY20.

During the same period, import bill of agriculture and other chemical stood at $8.41bn showcasing a growth of 19.58% YoY compared to FY20. Likewise, import of machinery jumped by 34.38%YoY to value at $8.32bn during the period under review. Similarly, imports of food, textile and metal also recorded a notable increase of 53.72%, 44%, and 42% YoY to stand at $7.24bn, $4.76bn and $4.58bn, respectively when compared to FY20.

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