ISLAMABAD: For the first time in eight years, Pakistan’s exports have crossed the $2-billion mark for four successive months (Oct-Jan FY21), data released by the Ministry of Commerce showed.
During a consultative meeting of MoC officials held via video link on Friday, it was informed that exports in January 2021 increased 8pc to $2.13 billion as compared to $1.97 billion in January 2020.
The meeting was conducted by Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razaq Dawood to review the provisional (pre-PBS) trade data till the month of January 2021.
The officials attributed the rise in Jan exports to the increase in value-added and non-traditional exports, as the exports of jerseys & cardigans surged 72pc YoY, while that of pharmaceutical increased 55pc, T-shirts 43pc, plastics 24pc, women’s garments 21pc, home textiles 19pc, made-up textile 11pc, men’s garments 8pc and rice 7pc.
On the other hand, a declining trend was noted mostly in the export of non-value-added products, as the exports of maize decreased 82pc, raw leather 23pc, cotton yarn 11pc, cotton fabric 14pc and meat 5pc.
Canada emerged as top export destination of Pakistan during the month of January, as exports to the country rose 43pc, followed by Australia (42pc), the United States (36pc), South Africa (27pc), China (21pc), the United Kingdom (21pc), Belgium (18pc), and Saudi Arabia (14pc). On the contrary, exports to Jordan decreased 68pc, Senegal (-59pc), Italy (-24pc), Turkey (-21pc), Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates (-19pc each).
The seven-month performance of exports was also discussed in the meeting. The provisional export data for the July-January 2020-21 period showed that the country’s exports increased 5.5pc to $14,245 million as compared to $13,507 million in the same period of last year.
During July-January 2020-21, exports of value-added and non-traditional products increased, particularly tents & canvas (49pc), jerseys & cardigans (37pc), pharmaceuticals (28pc), cutlery (27pc), socks & stockings (26pc), women’s garments (22pc), home textiles (17pc) and textile made-ups (9pc), as compared to the same period last year.
However, cotton exports plunged 96pc YoY during the period under review, followed by maize (-49pc), raw leather (-30pc), cotton yarn (-24pc) and cotton fabric (-9pc).
With 43pc share in Pakistan’s overall exports, Indonesia emerged as the top export destination for the country during 7MFY21, followed by Australia (22pc), the United States (21pc), the United Kingdom (21pc), Poland (14pc), Germany (12pc), the Netherlands (11pc) and China (9pc).
On the other hand, exports to Thailand fell 43pc, Malaysia (-24pc), Sri Lanka (-23pc), UAE (-21pc), Bangladesh (-18pc), Italy (-7pc) and Spain (-5pc) during the period under review.
During the meeting, Dawood paid rich tributes to Pakistani exporters for showing credible performance despite challenges imposed by Covid-19 pandemic and contraction in major markets. He urged them to aggressively focus on capturing a larger share of international markets.
