April 20, 2021 (MLN): Resuming of economic activity after the period of strict lockdown bounced back the demand for petroleum products which translated a surge in import bill by 65.8% YoY basis to $1.1billion in March’21. While on MoM basis, the import of the same product jumped by 37.7%.
Subsequently, petroleum crude remained the major contributor of increasing import bill by 96.68% YoY while on MoM it showed an increase of 27.39% in March’21. Likewise, the import of Natural Liquefied Gas stood at $231.72mn boosted by 30% increase YoY whereas, on MoM basis, the same product witnessed a small increase of 3.19% corresponding to the previous month of FY21.
Similarly, Petroleum products and petroleum gas, liquefied continued to be the significant contributors with import bill totalled $560.65mn and $46.46mn, respectively. On YoY, petroleum products observed 73% jump in FY21 corresponding to March’20 while 66% up in March’21 on MoM basis compared to the last month. Also, petroleum gas, liquefied witnessed a 55.92% increase in March’21 while a 47.8% increase was recorded on MoM basis.
The petroleum group contributed 19.11% of the total imports during 9MFY21 which clocked in at $7.5billion against $8.9bn of the corresponding period of FY20, showing a dip of 15.13% YoY when compared to the same period last year, data revealed by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
On the export side, During July-March FY21, Petroleum group & coal witnessed a fall of 51.42% YoY to stand at $116mn against $239mn in the corresponding period of FY20.
Commodity wise, the main exportable product was petroleum top naphtha which stood at $0.5mn with an increase of 16% on MoM basis while on YoY basis it showed a sharp decline of 66% compared to March’20.
