May 29, 2021 (MLN): The total value of imports during 10MFY21 stood at 42.31billion posted an upsurge of 13.49% compared to the same period last year.  In the month of April’21 alone, total imports to Pakistan recorder at $4.97bn, depicting a considerable increase of 58% YoY when compared to the import payments of April’20.

However, on a sequential basis, the total imports dropped by 4.53% in the month of April’21, against the import value $5.2bn reported in March’21.

According to the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan on import payment by commodities, the major importable goods during April’20 were Petroleum, Agriculture Products & Chemicals, Machinery, and Food as they accounted for 18.48%, 16.48%, 15.18% and 12.23% of the total import respectively.

During the month, the import bill of Petroleum group expanded by 27.17% YoY but shrank by 3.4% MoM to $918million.

Petroleum crude and petroleum products remained the main products during the month that contributed in the expansion of Petroleum bill on yearly basis by 2X and 1.66% respectively. Whereas on monthly basis, Natural gas liquefied and petroleum gas liquefied shrank the import bill by 17.75% and 27.83%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the imports of Machineries witnessed a surge of 2x yoy. While a meager increment made it to stand at $754.3mn during the month under review against the imports of $747.2 million in the previous month and $339.16mn in April’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 27% of the entire group’s import. The imports of Telecom machines surged by 2.1x YoY to $204.27mn, while on monthly basis, it declined by 15.58%.

Within the Telecom, the imports of Mobile Phones jumped significantly by 96% YoY to $140.88mn from $71.8mn during April FY20. On monthly basis, the import of mobile phones depicted a plunge of 22.27%.

Similarly, 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 51.44% YoY. However, the import of similar group marginally declined by 0.24% on MoM basis to value at $818.66mn.

The major chunk of imports under the Agriculture and Chemical Products was mainly in the Plastic Materials which contributed a total of 31% of the entire group's imports. Total Plastic Material imports during the period under review recorded at $259.9mn, depicting increase of 59.59% YoY from $162.85mn in April’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 $226.04 during April’21 with the share of 37.2% in total group imports, depicting a surge by 40.69%YoY whereas on MoM basis, the same product posted a decline of 2.58%.

Similarly, the import bill of Pulses reported an increase of 61.4% YoY and 39.61% MoM to stand at $82mn during April’21. On the other hand, the import bill of tea clocked in at $42mn, witnessed a decline of 16.33%YoY and 5.87%MoM during April’21.

The imports of other products such as Transport group jumped by 2.5x YoY, while the import bill of Textile and Metals mounted by 56.19% and 43.7% YoY during April FY’21.

Cumulatively, during 10MFY21, import bill of all the goods that country imported during the review period witnessed an upsurge except for petroleum group which reported a decline of 10.36% YoY to value at $7.59bn when compared to the corresponding period last year.

During the same period, import bill of agriculture and other chemical stood at $6.69bn showcasing a growth of 12.96% YoY compared to 10MFY20. Likewise, import of machinery jumped by 29.28%YoY to value at $6.65bn during the period under review. Similarly, imports of food, textile and metal also recorded a notable increase of 53.69%, 36.41%, and 36% YoY to stand at $5.95bn, $3.9bn and $3.74bn, respectively when compared to 10MFY20.

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