Pakistan’s rice exports grew by 26.30% during the first half of the current financial year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
Over 2.020 million metric tons worth $1.033 billion were exported during the period compared to 1.587 million tons valuing $817.923 million last year.
According to the latest trade data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, exports of Basmati rice witnessed an overwhelming growth of 55.89% as about 415,083 metric tons of Basmati rice worth $380.623 million was exported to the exports of 241,491 metric tons valuing $244.169 million in the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, exports of rice other than Basmati also grew by 13.71% during the period under review as 1,605,613 metric tons of rice worth $652.428 million exported versus 1,345,961 metric tons valued at $573.754 million exported last year.
However, on a month on month basis, rice exports decreased by 8.19% in December 2019 as 403,923 metric tons of rice worth $197.185 million were exported compared with exports of 431,744 metric tons last year.
It is worth mentioning here that during the first half-year, food group exports from the country witnessed 10.96% growth as commodities worth $2.199 billion were exported versus $1.994 billion in the same period of last year.
On the other hand, food imports during the period under review decreased by 13.48% as it came down from $2.966 billion in July-December 2018-19 to $2.556 billion in the same period of the current financial year.
According to the data, other food commodities that saw positive growth in exports included fish and fish products which showed a growth of 22.56%, vegetables 40.44% as well as meat and meat products which increased by 51.89%.
Import of food commodities that witnessed negative growth included milk, cream, and milk for infants 26.69%, dry fruits, nuts 9.96% while tea imports saw a decline of 24.12%.