ISLAMABAD   -  Pakistan earned $199.023 million by ex­porting 92,621 metric tonnes of fish and fish preparations during the first half of the current fiscal year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Wednesday.

As compared to the exports of $225,217 million during July-December (2022-23), the fish exports during the July-December 2023 witnessed decline of 11.63 percent, according to PBS data. In terms of quantity, the exports of fish and fish preparations however increased by 5.12 percent during the first six months when compared to ex­ports of 88,110 metric tonnes during the last fiscal year. On a year-on-year basis, the seafood exports decreased by 5.94 percent to $37.075 million in December 2023 as compared to the exports of $39.415 million in December 2022. In terms of quantity, the exports witnessed a 20.29 percent increase by going up from 16,694 metric tonnes last year to 20,081 metric tonnes this year. On a month-on-month basis, the seafood ex­ports declined by 2.52 percent when com­pared to the exports of $38.035 million in November, according to the PBS data.

In terms of quantity, fish exports in­creased by 11.17 percent in December compared to the exports of 18,064 met­ric tonnes in November. The overall food group exports from Pakistan increased by 49.84 percent during the first six months of the current fiscal year as com­pared to the corresponding period of last year. Food exports during July-December (2023-24) were recorded at $3,481,200 million as compared to the exports of $2,323,275 million in July-December (2022-23), a surge of 49.84 percent, ac­cording to the latest PBS data. In terms of quantity, the gold imports declined by 80 percent when compared to the imports of 60 kilograms during November 2023.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s overall merchandize trade defi­cit contracted by 34.29 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year com­pared to the corresponding period of last year. The trade deficit from July-December (2023-24) was recorded at $11.148 billion as against the deficit of $16.965 billion in July–December (2022-23), showing nega­tive growth of 34.29 per cent. During the period under review, the exports increased by 5.17 percent to $14.981 billion com­pared to the exports of $14.244 billion dur­ing the corresponding period of last year, according to the latest PBS data. On the other hand, the imports narrowed by 16.28 per cent and were recorded at $26.129 bil­lion compared to $31.209 billion last year.