By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s textile exports, the backbone of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings, posted a modest 1.25% gain in the first seven months of the fiscal year, climbing to $10.904 billion from $10.777 billion a year earlier, even as broader shipments faltered and imports swelled, widening the trade deficit.
The uptick, detailed in preliminary trade data released on Tuesday by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, came amid a patchy recovery in key categories like knitwear, which rose to $3.098 billion from $3.033 billion, bedwear to $1.92 billion from $1.868 billion, and ready-made garments to $2.58 billion from $2.441 billion.
Cotton cloth exports, however, slipped to $992.17 million from $1.129 billion, while made-up articles dropped sharply to $469 million from $660.32 million. Other textile materials edged higher to $457.5 million from $432.92 million.
The textile sector’s performance offered a glimmer of resilience in an otherwise sluggish export landscape, with overall shipments tumbling 7.11% to $18.190 billion from $19.583 billion in the July-January period. Imports, meanwhile, jumped 9.49% to $40.260 billion from $36.771 billion, pushing the trade balance into a deeper red at negative $22.07 billion.
Food exports took a heavy hit, plunging 35.29% to $2.989 billion from $4.614 billion, dragged down by a 40.51% collapse in rice shipments to $1.305 billion from $2.194 billion. Basmati rice exports fell 6.62% to $477.7 million from $571.6 million, while IRRI-6 rice halved to $827.8 million from $1.62 billion, reflecting weak global demand and supply chain snarls.
On the import side, food purchases ballooned 19.26% to $5.5 billion from $4.614 billion, underscoring Pakistan’s vulnerability to commodity price swings. Palm oil imports swelled 24.7% to $2.35 billion from $1.885 billion, spices rose 12.6% to $146 million from $130 million, and tea inched up 1.13% to $376.6 million from $372.55 million. Sugar imports exploded to $174.6 million from a negligible $0.218 million, while pulses declined 22% to $492 million from $630 million.
Energy costs remained a persistent drag, with petroleum imports totalling $9.046 billion for the period, down 4.39% from $9.461 billion a year ago amid softer demand. Petroleum products dipped 1.81% in value but rose 7.72% in quantity, while crude oil imports climbed 8.22% in value and 16.91% in quantity, signalling stepped-up refining activity. Liquefied natural gas imports slid 26.20%, and liquefied petroleum gas fell 4.98%.
Metal imports surged 18.8% to $3.88 billion from $3.263 billion, fueled by a 31% jump in iron and steel to $1.63 billion from $1.243 billion and a 7.47% increase in iron, steel, and scrap to $1.24 billion from $1.157 billion. Agricultural inputs like fertilisers, pesticides, and chemicals rose 8.9% to $6.27 billion from $5.76 billion.
Other categories showed mixed trends: rubber products, tyres, wood, and paperboard climbed 10.68% to $695 million, while textile imports like raw cotton, synthetic fibre, and silk yarn reached $3.95 billion. Telecommunication gear imports leaped 30.78%, driven by a 31.36% increase in mobile phones to $1.139 billion from $867.68 million
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