Pakistan achieves historic exports of $24.827 billion

Pakistan’s exports in the year 2010-2011 amounted to $24.827 billion according to the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS). This is a 28.7 per cent increase compared to the $19.29 billion recorded in FY10.
Exports of 2.42b in June
According to provisional data provided by FBS on the basis of figures given by director R&S FBR Islamabad, Pakistan also achieved exports of $2.427 billion in June 2011 which is the highest ever recorded in a month. This is an increase of 36.27 per cent from the $1.781 billion recorded in the same month of last fiscal year.
Imports in FY11
The over all imports during FY11 were $40.414 billion as compared to $34.710 billion during FY10, which is an increase of 16.43 per cent.
Pakistan’s exports during May 2011 were valued at $2.308 billion which is 33 per cent higher than $1.736 billion recorded during the same month last year. Imports during May 2011 were valued at $4.288 billion registering a growth of 27.5 per cent compared to May 2010.
Current account
surplus of $748m
The cumulative value of exports for the period July-May 2010-11 was $22.446 billion compared to $17.509 billion of last year, registering a growth of 28.2 per cent. Similarly, the cumulative value of imports for the period July-May 2010-11 was $36.551 billion compared to $31.486 billion of the previous year registering a growth of 16.09 per cent.
The country has also posted a current account surplus of $748 million during the period under review mainly because of phenomenal increase in remittances, robust growth in exports and stable exchange rate.
Textile sector earned 11.18b in exports
Despite the economic downturn in Europe and the US, Pakistan is on course to set new records of exports growth. According to statistics the imports during April 2011 were valued at $3.247 billion registering a growth of 7.7 per cent over the value of imports in the corresponding month of last fiscal year.
Cumulative value of imports for the period July-April 2010-11 was $32.263 billion in comparison to $28.123 billion last year, registering growth of 14.7 per cent. Trade deficit shrank by 34 per cent in April as compared to April last year which is also a positive sign for the economy. For the period July-April 2010-11, the trade deficit was marginally reduced by about two per cent. The main reason for surge in export value is the increasing price of textile products in the international market and the increasing competitiveness of the local textile products in the world market. An analysis of the top 10 highest export value products during July 2010 to April 2011 shows that the main drivers of this export growth was the textile sector which earned nearly $11.18 billion, showing 32.37 per cent growth. The agro food sector registered exports worth $1.7 billion with a growth of almost 91.19 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last financial year. Similarly, minerals and metals, engineering goods and leather sector registered a growth of 32.92 per cent, 16.98 per cent, and 25.95 per cent respectively.
Other important export items like, bed wear, readymade garments, rice, petroleum products, raw cotton and towels, were among the top export items that have shown growth during the last 11 months.
Experts said that the country would not be able to maintain the current pace of increase in exports during the financial year 2012 as the price of cotton has started declining in the international market which would affect textile products adversely.