Pakistan’s food import bill rises to $7.85 billion

Pakistan’s food import bill increased 13.81% year-on-year to $7.848 billion during the first 10 months of FY26, mainly driven by higher imports of sugar and edible oil, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

At the same time, exports of raw food products declined 32.02% to $4.190 billion in July-April FY26 from $6.164 billion a year earlier, widening the gap between food imports and exports.

The decline in exports was recorded across most major food categories, although meat exports showed some growth during the period.

Pakistan imported 309,157 tonnes of sugar during July-April FY26, compared to only 3,007 tonnes in the same period last year, reflecting an increase of 10,181.25%.

In value terms, sugar imports rose to $174.908 million from $2.978 million a year earlier, up 5,773.35%.

Officials said the increase followed the government’s decision to allow large-scale sugar imports to address domestic shortages and stabilise retail prices, which remained between Rs150 and Rs180 per kilogram in different cities.

Palm oil remained the largest imported food item during the review period.

The value of palm oil imports increased 15.41% to $3.313 billion in July-April FY26 from $2.871 billion a year earlier, while import volumes rose 11.77% to 3.075 million tonnes.

Tea imports increased to $554.889 million from $527.80 million during the same period.

However, imports of pulses declined 24.19% to $624.38 million, while soyabean oil imports fell 61.15% to $108.683 million from $279.768 million last year.

The import bill for other food items rose 35.81% year-on-year to $2.525 billion.

According to the data, overall rice exports declined 9.33% year-on-year in April.

However, basmati rice exports increased 56.12% in value and 62.36% in quantity during the month, while non-basmati rice exports declined 27.97% in value and 24.16% in quantity.

The government has announced a cash subsidy to support rice exports.

Meat exports increased 18.33% in April, while fish exports rose 7%.

Vegetable exports recorded the steepest decline, falling 78.38%, whereas tobacco exports surged 80.29% and spice exports increased 2% during the month.