By Tahir Amin

ISLAMABAD: The country’s textile group exports declined by 4.38 percent on month-on-month basis and remained at $1.552 billion in January 2022 compared to $1.623 billion in December 2021, says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The exports and imports data released by the PBS revealed that the country’s overall exports in January 2022 were $ 2.618 billion (provisional) as compared to $2.764 billion in December 2021 showing a decrease of 5.28 percent but increased by 22.05 percent as compared to $2.145 billion in January, 2021.

The country’s textile group exports witnessed 24.73 percent growth during the first seven months (July-January) of the current fiscal year and remained $10.933 billion compared to $8.765 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

On a year-on-year basis, textile group exports witnessed 17.29 percent growth in January 2022, when compared to $1.323 billion in January 2021.

Cotton yarn exports registered a growth of 41.41 percent during July-January 2021-22 and remained at $687.857 million compared to $486.429 million during the same period of last year, and decreased by 9.64 percent in January 2022 and remained $77.430 million when compared to $85.695 million during the same month of last year.

On month-on-month basis, cotton yarn exports witnessed 27.32 percent decline.

Raw cotton exporters witnessed 782.46 percent growth in the first seven month of current fiscal year and remained $5.233 million compared to $0.593 million during the same period of last fiscal year. Raw cotton exports witnessed 100 percent increase on month-on-month basis and 96 percent on year-on-year basis as it remained $3.470 million in January 2022 compared to $1.763 million in December 2021.

Petroleum group imports witnessed an increase of 107.35 percent growth as it reached $11.696 billion in July-January 2021-22 compared to $5.640 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year and registered 15.96 percent negative growth in January 2022 and remained $1.514 billion when compared to $1.801 billion in December 2021; however, registered 74.19 percent growth on year-on-year basis in January 2022 when compared to $869.288 million during the same month of last year.

Construction and mining machinery imports witnessed growth of 67.24 percent during the July-January 2021-22 and remained at $108.070 million compared to $64.62 million during July-January 2020-21.

The construction and mining machinery registered 20.91 percent growth on year-on-year basis and remained $12.486 million in January 2022 compared to $10.327 million in January 2021; however, it registered 53.80 percent decline on month-on-month basis when compared to $27.026 million in December 2021.

The country’s exports during July-January 2021-22 totalled $17.744 billion (provisional) against $14.255 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing an increase of 24.48 percent. The country’s imports during July-January 2021-22 totalled $46.616 billion (provisional) as against $29.257 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing an increase of 59.33 percent. The imports in January 2022 were $6.053 billion (provisional) as compared to $7.580 billion in December 2021 showing a decrease of 20.15 percent but increased by 26.03 per cent as compared to $4.803 billion in January 2021.

The country’s trade deficit widened by 92.45 percent from $15.002 billion in July-January 2020-21 to $28.872 billion in July-January 2021-22, and widened by 29.23 percent in January 2022, and remained $3.435 billion compared to $2.658 billion in January 2021.

Main commodities of exports during January 2022 were knitwear (Rs68,297 million), readymade garments (Rs58,390 million), bed wear (Rs46,617 million), cotton cloth (Rs38,239 million), rice others (Rs28,561 million), towels (Rs16,056 million), cotton yarn (Rs13,652 million), fruits (Rs12,900 million), made-up articles (excluding towels and bed wear) (Rs12,135 million) and rice basmati (Rs10,241 million). Main commodities of imports during January 2022 were petroleum products (Rs119,483 million), petroleum crude (Rs67,929 million), natural gas liquefied (Rs65,425 million), medicinal products (Rs52,696 million), palm oil (Rs50,506 million), plastic materials (Rs37,790 million), iron and steel scrap (Rs37,255 million), iron and steel (Rs35,327 million), mobile phones (Rs31,695 million), and wheat un-milled (Rs27,685 million).

This article first appeared in Business Recorder on Feb 17, 2022