June 27, 2020 (MLN): The major importable goods during 11MFY20 were Petroleum, Agriculture Products & Chemicals, Machinery and Food as they accounted for 23%, 17%, 14% and 11% of the total import respectively.
Even though Pakistan heavily dependent on oil, during 11MFY20 the import bill of Petroleum group shrank by 31% YoY to $8.85 billion compared to $12.85 billion in the corresponding period last year.
According to the latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the main products during the period that contributed in declining Petroleum’s import bill were Petroleum Products, Petroleum Crude, and Natural Liquefied Gas as their imports declined notably by 28%, 45% and 16% YoY respectively.
Meanwhile, the import of Agriculture and Other Chemicals witnessed a decline of 17% YoY to $6.46 billion during the period under review against $7.79 billion in Jul-May FY19.
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 28% of the entire group's imports. Total Plastic Material imports during the period under review recorded at $1.79 billion, depicting a decline of 15% YoY from $2.1 billion in Jul-May FY19.
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 12% YoY to $5.49 billion versus $6.2 billion in the same period of last year.
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 25.5% of the entire group’s import. The imports of Telecom machines surged by 31% YoY to $1.4 billion, from $1 billion in the corresponding period of last year.
Within the Telecom, the imports of Mobile Phones jumped significantly by 68% YoY to $938.4 million from $559 million during Jul-May FY19.
Next in line is Food group whose share in overall country’s import bill was 11% during the period under review. The major food items which Pakistan imported the most include, Palm Oil, Tea and Pulses. The imports Palm Oil and Pulses witnessed a surge of 2% and 17% YoY, while imports of Tea declined by 9% YoY. This has reduced the total group’s import bill by 4% YoY to $4.2 billion.
The imports of other products such as Textile, Metals and Transports also witnessed a decline of 15%, 18% and 37% YoY respectively during 11MFY20.
In the month of May’20 alone, the imports of Petroleum Products, Agriculture Products & Chemicals and Machineries witnessed a decline on both monthly basis and yearly basis. On yearly basis, the import of these products saw a drop of 58%, 21% and 45% respectively, while on monthly basis, the import bill of Petroleum group and Machinery items shrank by 42% and 2%, whereas, imports of Agriculture and Chemical group saw a negligible fall of 0.2%.
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