Transit trade to Afghanistan grows 44 percent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s flow of trade cargo to Afghanistan rose 43.95 percent to 93,732 containers in 2018-19 from 60,516 containers in the last year, data showed.

The import value of the cargo grew a strong 54.88 percent to $5.715 billion in 2018-19 from $3.97 billion in the previous year.

Data shows that the flow of transit containers at Torkham grew a paltry 9.7 percent to 39,175 in 2018-19 from 35,699 in the previous year. The assessed import value of cargo at Torkham reached $2.63bn during the year under review as against $2.23bn over the previous year, showing an increase of 17.9 percent.

The flow of commercial containers grew by 4.6 percent to 37,202 in 2018-19 from 35,564 a year ago. In value terms, the growth was recorded at $2.44bn as against $2.22bn over the last year, reflecting a growth of 10 percent.

The flow of total transit cargoes at Chaman reached 51,641 containers in 2018-19 as against 24,817 containers in the previous year, showing an increase of 108 percent.