Country imports food items worth $6.7 billion in eight months

ISLAMABAD-As the floods in last year had destroyed all major crops, the country has imported food items worth $6.7 billion in order to bridge the local shortage in the country in eight months of the current fiscal year.

The country, which was a net exporter of the food commodities in the past, has increased its import bill of edible goods by 3.98 percent in one year. The fresh data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that the country’s food import bill has gone from $6.43 billion in July to February of 2021-22 to $6.69 billion in the same period of the ongoing year 2022-23. Food import bill has ballooned mainly due to sugar, wheat, palm oil and pulses imports to bridge the shortfall in domestic production of agriculture produce. In the food group, the PBS data showed that the government has spent $857.9 million on import of wheat in the July to February period of the current year previous financial year, which is 16.36 percent higher than the corresponding period of previous year. 

The government has imported palm oil worth $2.66 billion as compared to $2.44 billion in the same period of last year, showing an increase of 9.87 percent. Meanwhile, the government has imported different pulses worth $660.8 million in the first eight months of the current fiscal year showing an increase 57.85 percent. However, the sugar imports have declined, as the government has allowed export of the commodity. According to the PBS data, the country’s petroleum group imports have recorded a negative growth of 8.28 percent during July-February 2022-23 and remained $11.876 billion compared to $12.948 billion during the same period of last fiscal year. The breakup showed that petroleum products showed 14.47 percent negative growth during the first eight months of the current fiscal year and remained at $5.352 billion compared to $6.257 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. Petroleum crude imports witnessed a growth of 10.3290 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year 2022-23 and remained $3.483 billion when compared to $3.157 billion during the same period of last year.

The data showed that machinery group imports recorded 46.42 percent negative growth during the first eight months of the current fiscal year and remained at $4.155 billion compared to $7.755 billion during the same period of last fiscal year. Power generation machinery registered 68.03 percent negative growth during the first eight months of the current fiscal year and remained $375.825 million compared to $1.175 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. Transport group imports witnessed 51.02 percent negative growth during the first eight months of the current fiscal year and remained at $1.442 billion compared to $2.944 billion during the same period of last fiscal year. According to the PBS, the country’s overall imports have declined by 23.56 percent during the period under review by going down from $52.452 billion last year to $40.039 billion during the current year.

Article source: https://www.nation.com.pk/19-Mar-2023/country-imports-food-items-worth-dollar-6-7-billion-in-eight-months