The food exports swelled 32 percent on a year-on-year basis in March to reach $478.6 million. The food exports were recorded at $362.5mn in March 2020; however, the demand had been disrupted in March 2020 over restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic On a sequential basis, the total receipts from the exports of food items surged by 16.5 percent on a month-on-month basis from $410.7 million in February last.
According to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the food group contributed 17.8 percent of the total exports during July-March FY21 which clocked in at $3.33billion, showing a decrease of 1.84 percent YoY when compared to the same period last year.
Commodity wise, rice remained the major source of foreign exchange earnings as its exports valued at $222.5mn showcasing the increase of 23.42%MoM while the subgroup, Basmati rice witnessed major growth of 73.08 percent MoM. Similarly, the export of fish & fish preparations stood at $52.4mn depicting a significant increase of 70.14 percent MoM and 35.53 percent YoY.
Similarly, meat and meat preparations also observed a significant raise of 27.14 percent MoM. On the flip side, fruits’ exports came down by 27.24 percent on a MoM basis whereas compared to the last year exports of fruits increased by 16.85 percent. On the import side, the total import bill of food group amounted at $776.5million showcasing a huge upsurge of 91 percent on YoY basis against the same period of last year due to restoring demand of consumers after relaxation to the strict lockdown situation. While the same group recorded growth of 10.2 percent MoM compared to the last month.
Collectively, the group accounted for almost 15.5 percent of the total imports during 9MFY21 as per the data released by PBS, up by 54.45 percent YoY to clock in at $6.12 billion.
Data further revealed that imports of palm oil which recorded a growth of 26.6 percent MoM, valued at $275 million during March 2021. While a notable decline was seen in wheat imports as it dropped by around 44.42 percent MoM to stand at $67.4 million whereas on YoY basis, the import of wheat recorded 100 percent increase during the said period when compared to the previous year.
One of the major imported food commodities is milk and dairy products positioned at $21 million during March 2021 witnessing the growth of 18.5 percent MoM and 114.81 percent YoY. Likewise, the import of tea stood at $55.8 million showing an uptick of double digit growth 29.21 percent MoM whereas on YoY basis, data reported a meagre growth of 7.54 percent.
