ISLAMABAD                 -            The exports from the country, in rupee term, surged by 22.11 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The exports from the country during July-January (2019-20) were recorded at Rs2110.426 million against the exports of Rs1728.346 million during July-January (2018-19), showing growth of 22.11 percent, according to the provisional figures released by the bureau.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the exports from the country increased by 8.44 percent during the month of January 2019 and amounted to Rs305.986 million compared to the exports of Rs282,179 million in January 2018.

The exports on month-on-month however decreased by 0.88 percent during  January 2019 when compared to the exports of Rs308.697 million in December 2019.

The Main commodities of exports during January, 2020 were readymade garments (Rs. 41,597 million), knitwear (Rs. 37,891 million), bed wear (Rs. 30,016 million), cotton cloth (Rs. 27,168 million),rice others (Rs.18,310 million), cotton yarn (Rs. 14,789 million), towels (Rs. 10,093 million), fruits (Rs. 9,722 million), rice basmati (Rs. 9,703 million) and made-up articles (excl. towels & bed wear) (Rs. 8,608 million).

On the other hand, the Imports into the country during July – January 2019-20 totaled Rs. 4,272,554 million as against Rs4,224,292 million during the corresponding period of last year showing a slight increase of 1.14%.

Imports into Pakistan during January, 2020 amounted to Rs639,572 million as against Rs619,586  million  in January 2019 and Rs625,463 million during December, 2019 showing an increase of 3.23 percent over January 2019 and by 2.26% over December, 2019.

Main commodities of imports during January, 2020 were petroleum products (Rs. 65,067 million), petroleum Crude (Rs. 48,403 million), electrical machinery and apparatus (Rs.35,815 million), natural gas, liquified (Rs. 34,530 million), plastic materials (Rs. 27,145 million), Palm oil (Rs.24,593 million), iron and steel scrap (Rs. 22,772 million), mobile phone (Rs. 22,338 million), raw cotton (Rs.16,720 million) and iron and steel (Rs.16,021 million).

Meanwhile, the import of mobile phones into the country increased by 79.46 percent during the first seven months of current financial year (2019-20) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $760.582 million during July-January (2019-20) as compared to the imports of $423.818 million during July-January (2018-19), showing growth of 79.46 percent, according to the latest data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

On year-on year basis, the import of mobile phones witnessed growth of 141.65 percent in January 2020, as compared to the imports of the same month of last year. The mobile imports during January 2020 were recorded at $144.437 million against the imports of $59.771 million in January 2019. On month-on-month basis, the imports of mobile phones also grew by 22.73 percent during January 2020, as compared to the imports of $117.682 million during December 2019, according to the data.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandise trade deficit plunged by 28.40 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year (2019-20) as compared to the deficit of the same month of last year.

During the period under review, the country’s exports registered about 2.14 per cent growth, whereas imports reduces by 15.95 per cent, according the foreign trade statistics, released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

During the period from July-January (2019-20), exports reached to $13.498 billion against the exports of $13.216 billion of the same period of last year, it added.

 Meanwhile, the country’s imports witnessed significant decrease of 15.95 % as these went down from $32.420 billion in first seven months of last financial year to $27.249 billion of same period of current financial year, it said.