ISLAMABAD: The export of spices has earned $68.445 million for the country during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2018-19), showing an increase of 14.65pc as compared to the export of $59.689 million during the same period of last year.
In terms of quantity, the export of spices increased by 16.64pc during the period under review as compared to the same period last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. The spices export during July-March 2018-19 were recorded at 18,428 metric tonnes, as against the exports of 15,799 metric tonnes during July-March 2017-18.
On a year-on-year basis, the export of spices witnessed a decrease of 0.34pc as it fell from $9.323 million in March 2018 to $9.291 million in March 2019.
On the other hand, the export of spices witnessed an increase of 4.14pc on a month-on-month basis ($8.922 million in February 2019).
It is pertinent to mention that the country’s merchandise trade deficit plunged by 13.02 per cent during July-March 2018-19, as the deficit contracted by over $3.544 billion to $23.672 billion in the period under review as against the deficit of $27.216 billion recorded during the same period of the previous year.
