Pakistan’s rice exports witnessed significant growth of 85.83% during the first eight months (July-Feb) of the ongoing fiscal year FY2023-24 as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
According to the data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), over 3.932 million metric tons of rice valued at $2.517 billion were exported during July-February FY2023-24, as against the exports of 2.546 million metric tons worth $1.354 billion in the same period of last year.
Exports of basmati rice reached 472,135 metric tons worth $539.428 million with an increase of 38.43% in first eight months of FY24 as compared to exports of 366,210 metric tons worth $386.882 million in the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, the country earned $2.180 billion by exporting about 3.460 million metric tons of rice of other varieties, which was recorded at 2.180 million metric tons valued at $967.872 million in the same period of last year.
On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the rice exports grew by 48.18% to 609,295 metric tons worth $402.043 million in February 2024 as compared to the exports of 564,206 million tons valued at $271.312 million in February 2023.
This increase in exports of Pakistan’s basmati rice is mainly due to a recent ban on rice exports by the Indian government which jacked up the demand for Pakistani commodity in the international market.
On the flip side, food group exports from Pakistan increased by 54.05% during the first eight months of FY24.
During the period from July to February FY24, different food commodities worth $4.969 billion were exported as compared to the exports of 3.225 billion in the same period of the previous year.
Food exports increased by 35.38% to worth $702.469 million in February 2024 as compared to the exports of $518.871 million in February 2023.
Meanwhile, the imports of food commodities into the country during the first eight months of FY24 decreased by 18.33% as against the imports of the corresponding period of last year.
The imports of food commodities during the period under review came down from $6.687 billion to $5.461 billion.
On a monthly basis, the food group imports grew by 5.12% in February 2024 growth as food goods valued at $739.819 million were imported as compared to the imports of 703.722 million in the same month of last year.
