April 24, 2020 (MLN): Petroleum, Agriculture Products & Chemicals, and Machinery are the major commodities that Pakistan imported during the month of March 2020.
The import bill of Petroleum group during the month shrank by significantly 31% YoY and MoM both to $648.89 million compared to $934.9 million in February 2020 and $945.2 million in March 2019.
According to the latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the main products during the month that contributed in declining Petroleum’s import bill on monthly basis were Petroleum Products, Petroleum Crude, and Natural Liquefied Gas as their imports declined notably by 26%, 53% and 20% MoM respectively. While on a yearly basis, the imports of Petroleum declined mainly due to a decline in the imports of Petroleum Crude, and Natural Liquefied Gas by 67% and 45% respectively.
Meanwhile, the import of Agriculture and Other Chemicals also witnessed a decline of 13% YoY but an increase of 12% MoM to $567.3 million in March’20.
Agriculture and Chemicals imported to Pakistan mainly include Manufactured Fertilizer, Insecticides, Plastic material, Medicinal Products, and other Agricultural and Chemical products.
The major chunk of imports under the Agriculture and Chemical Products was mainly in the Plastic Materials which contributed a total of 30% of the entire group's imports during the month. Total Plastic Material imports in March’20 recorded at $168.7 million, depicting a decline of 2% YoY and an increase of 9% MoM.
Similarly, the import bill of Machinery group which comprises of Power Generating Machine, Office Machines and Equipment, Textile Machines, Construction & Mining Machinery, Electrical Machinery, Telecom, Agriculture and Other Machinery, witnessed a decline of 3% MoM and 13% YoY to $451.13 million during the month under review.
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 31% of the entire group’s import during the month. The imports of Telecom machines surged by 21% YoY and 14% MoM to $139.25 million.
Within the Telecom, the imports of Mobile Phones jumped significantly by 77% YoY and 12% MoM to $100 million.
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