Palm oil imports witnessed sharp decline of 18.92 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year as against the same period last year.
Pakistan imported palm oil worth $1.024 billion during July-December (2012-13) against the imports of $1.263 billion in July-November (2011-12), according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
In terms of quantity, the palm oil imports witnessed negative growth of 6.58 percent by falling from imports of 1,205,182 metric tons last year to 1,032,473 metric tons during the period under review.
In rupees term the palm oil imports during July-November (2012-13) stood at Rs 97,562 million against the imports of Rs 110,182 during the same period of last year, showing negative growth of 11.45%.
During the month of December 2012, palm oil imports witnessed decrease of 29.44% and 6.38% against the imports in December 2011 and November 2012 respectively, the data revealed.
On the other hand, the imports of soyabean oil witnessed increase of 26.47 percent during the first six months of the current fiscal year.
The soyabean imports were recorded at $44.241 million in July-December (2012-13) against the imports of $34.981 million during the same period of last year, the PBS data revealed.
In terms of quantity, the soyabean oil imports increased from 26,625 metric tons to 34,381 metric tons, witnessing increase of 29.13 percent.
In rupees term, the soyabean oil imports witnessed increase of 37.67 percent by going up from imports of Rs 3,042 million last year to Rs 4,188 million during the current year.
During the month of December 2012, soyabean imports decreased by 93.15% and 95.23% as compared to the imports of December 2011 and November 2012 respectively.
It is pertinent to mention here that the overall food imports into the country witnessed decline of 17.49 percent by falling from $2.614 billion last year to $2.157 billion this year.
The overall imports into the county during July-December (2012-13) decreased by 3.33 percent whereas the exports increased by 7.58 percent as compared to the same period last year.
