ISLAMABAD: The cutlery exports from the country decreased by 3.08pc during the first seven months of the current fiscal year as against the exports of the corresponding period of last year.
The exports of cutlery were recorded at $51.071 million during July-January period of the financial year 2018-19, against the exports of $52.693 million during July-January FY18, according to the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
On a year-on-year basis, the cutlery exports from the country during January 2019 went up by 4pc as compared to the same month of last year. The cutlery exports during January 2019 were recorded at $6.914 million against the exports of $6.648 million in January 2018.
On a month-on-month basis, the export of cutlery in January 2019 witnessed a decline of 13.01pc when compared to the exports of $7.948 million in December 2018.
It is pertinent to mention that the overall merchandise trade deficit of the country plunged by 9.66pc during July-January FY19 as the deficit contracted by over $2 billion to $19.264 billion in the period under review against the deficit of $21.324 billion recorded during the same period of the previous year.
The exports during the period under review witnessed an increase of 2.24pc to $13.231 billion as compared to $12.941 billion during the same period last year, while the imports declined by 5.17pc to $32.495 billion from $34.265 billion during the first seven months of FY18.
On the other hand, the services trade deficit shrank by 29.11pc during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The services trade deficit during July-December FY19 was recorded at $1.945 billion against the deficit of $2.744 billion during July-December FY18, showing a decline of 29.11pc.
