Fozia Azam

Rice exports from the country have declined in the first five months of the current fiscal year, i.e. 2022-23 to USD 749.407 million as compared to USD 826.505 million in the same months of the last year. According to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), rice exports in the first five months of the ongoing fiscal year were recorded at 1.393 million tons, whereas last year they were recorded at 1.585 million tons.

From July through November, 214,618 metric tons of Basmati rice were exported with a total value of USD 229.297 million. Last year exports of the same were recorded at 296,674 metric tons worth USD 524.935 million. In the months under review, the exports of the above-mentioned commodity saw an increase of 145% in dollar terms this year as compared to the same months of the last year.

In the first five months of the current fiscal year, 1.178 million metric tons of exports of rice other than the Basmati variety with a total value of USD 520.111 million were recorded as compared to 1.290 million metric tons with a value of USD 571.537 million in the same months of the last year showing a growth of 75%.

On a month-on-month basis (MoM) exports of rice in November decreased by 12.40%. In November 2022, 418,207 metric tons of rice worth USD 203.146 million were exported whereas in the same month of the last year, they were 493,844 metric tons with a worth of USD 231.908 million. It is pertinent to mention here that the rice production target was set at 5.53 million tons to be cultivated over an area of 2.99 million hectares.

However, the production of rice decreased by 2.4% due to floods and other climatic events. Similarly, a decrease of 1.03% was also seen in the exports of overall food group with a consequent increase of 1.63% in their imports. In the months under review the exports of food commodities stood at USD 1.927 billion as compared to the exports of USD 1.947 billion in the same months of last year. In the same months, food imports were recorded at USD 4.080 billion and USD 4.015 billion, respectively.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk