The food exports of the country during first five months of current fiscal year increased by 2.35 percent while the food imports into the country went down by 12.84 percent as compared to same period of last year showing an improvement in balance of trade in favor of the country.
The exports of overall food group were recorded at US $1.612 million during July-November (2012-13) against the exports of US$ 1574.68 million during July-November (2011-12).
According to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the food exports of the country on month basis also increased by 34.23 and 17.5 percent during November 2012 against November 2011 and October 2012 respectively.
The food exports increased from US$ 278.969 million in November 2011 and US$ 318.682 million in October 2012 to US$ 374.465 million in November 2012.
The major food items which recorded increase in their exports during the corresponding period include sugar (100%), meat and meat preparations (42%), oil seeds, nuts and kernels (33.15%), spices (19.30%)vegetables (34.11%), fruits(4.5%) and fish & fish preparation (0.57%).
Similarly the food imports into the country stood at $1.859 billion during first five months of current financial year against imports of $2.133 billion during same period of last year.
The food imports during the November 2012 declined by 30.74 percent against same month of last year where as compared to last month (October 2012) the imports edged up by 3.2 percent.
The food imports during the period under review remained $345.153 million while, the imports during November 2011 and October 2012 remained $438.31 million and $334.457 million respectively.
The major food items which recorded decrease in their imports during the period July-November (2012-13) include spices (32.01%), palm oil (16.62%), sugar (80.84%) and pulses (9.11%).
The items which recorded increase in their imports include milk and creams(17.48%), dry fruits and nuts (7.05%), tea (4.39%) and soyabean oil (38.32%).
The overall exports from the country witnessed positive growth of 7.85 percent while the imports decreased by 0.91 percent during first five months of current financial year, indicating a positive trends in the overall trade volume of the country.
Exports from the country during July-November (2012) were recorded at US$10.1 billion against the exports of US$ 9.347 billion during the same period of last year.
On the other hand, the imports into the country decreased from US$18.416 billion last year to US$18.25 billion during the current fiscal year, the data revealed.