Raza Khan

Pakistan imported food items worth $763.14 million during the first month of the current financial year, up by 17.87% as compared to the same month of the previous fiscal, WealthPK reports.

According to a report from the Ministry of Commerce, Pakistan had imported food items worth $647.44 million in July 2021. The import of food items is likely to increase in the coming months due to recent floods, which have wiped out most of the seasonal crops and vegetables in the country.

Pakistan spent the major chunk of the food group import bill on purchasing palm oil during the first month of the current fiscal. The import bill of palm oil amounted to $299.36 million in July 2022 against $254.02 million in the corresponding month of the previous financial year, showing an increase of 17.85%.

According to the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDA), the country imports 75% of palm oil products from Indonesia under the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and 25% from Malaysia under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Despite these agreements, Pakistan faces high export duties on crude palm oil and increasing prices of refined palm oil.

The total local consumption of edible oil is five million metric tonnes, 30% of which is domestically-produced and 70% of edible oil demand is met through the import of refined palm oil.

Apart from palm oil, Pakistan also imported soybean oil worth $15.81 million during the first month of the current fiscal as compared to $12.095 million in July 2021, showing an increase of 30.71%. Pakistan also imported wheat worth $107.1 million in the month under review.

Tea remained the third largest import item of the food group during July with its import value of $45.32 million against $41.127 million in the same month of the last year, witnessing an addition of 10.20%. Pakistan is the largest importer of tea in the world. Kenya is the largest source of tea import for Pakistan in terms of quantity as well as value.

According to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade, Pakistan imported tea worth more than $480 million from Kenya in 2021.

With a decline of 40.79%, the import of pulses dropped to $53.05 million during the month under review from $89.60 million in the same period of the previous financial year.

Import of milk, cream and milk food for infants also fell by 9.67% in July 2022 and dropped to $9.54 million from 10.565 million in the first month of the previous fiscal.

The imports of spices and dry fruits; and nuts were registered at $12.27 million and $1.88 million, respectively, during the first month of the current fiscal. Pakistan’s imports of food items were recorded at $9.015 billion during the previous fiscal, up by 8% as compared to the preceding year.

Pakistan spent the largest chunk of the food group imports bill on purchasing palm oil during 2021-22. The import bill of palm oil amounted to $3.549 billion during the previous fiscal, according to the report, available with WealthPK.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk