Daily Times

The exports of fish and fish preparations increased by 17.13 percent during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The country earned $456.668 million from seafood exports during July-May (2022-23) against the exports of US $389.873 million in July-May (2021-22), showing growth of 17.13 percent, PBS reported.

In terms of quantity, the exports of fish and fish preparations increased by 32.65 percent going up from 148,354 metric tons last year to 196,785 metric tons in the first eleven months of last year.

On a year-on-year basis, seafood exports increased by 25.06 percent to $50,578 million in May 2023 as compared to exports of $40.444 million during April 2022.

In terms of quantity, the exports witnessed a 32.20 percent increase going up from 16,578 metric tons last year to 22,081 metric tons this year. On a month-on-month basis, the seafood exports declined by 0.93 percent when compared to the exports of $51,052 million in April 2023, according to PBS data.

In terms of quantity, fish exports went down by 6.76 percent in May 2023 compared to the exports of 23,681 metric tons in April 2023.

The overall food exports from the country were recorded at $ 4,661.906 million during July-may (2022-23) against the exports of $ 4,917.691 million recorded during July-May (2021-22), showing negative growth of 5.20 percent. It is pertinent to mention here that the overall trade deficit witnessed a decline of 40.59 percent during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The trade deficit during July-May (2022-23) was recorded at $25.791 billion against the deficit of $43.409 billion in July- May (2021-22), a decline of 40.59 percent. The exports during the period were recorded at $25.366 billion against $28.871 billion last year, showing a decline of 12.14 percent. On the other hand, the imports witnessed a sharp decline of 29.22 percent by falling from $72.280 billion last year to $51.157 billion during the current fiscal year, PBS reported.