Pakistan’s fruit exports surged by 9.31 percent in the initial half of the ongoing fiscal year compared to the same period last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. According to PBS data, fruit exports reached to $171.280 million from July to December (2023-24), showcasing a notable increase from the exports of $156.692 million recorded during the corresponding period in the previous fiscal year (2022-23). On year-on-year basis, the good exports however declined by 5.10 percent in December 2023 when compared to the exports of the commodity during December 2022. The fruit exports in December 2023 were recorded at $43.210 million against the exports of $45.532 million in December 2022. On month-on-month basis, the fruit exports surged by 125.71 percent in December 2023 when compared to the exports of $19.144 million in November 2023. The overall food group exports from Pakistan increased by 49.84 percent during the first six months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year. Food exports during July-December (2023-24) were recorded at $3,481,200 million as compared to the exports of $2,323,275 million in July-December (2022-23), a surge of 49.84 percent, according to the latest PBS data. In terms of quantity, the gold imports declined by 80 percent when compared to the imports of 60 kilograms during November 2023. It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s overall merchandize trade deficit contracted by 34.29 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year. The Trade deficit from July-December (2023-24) was recorded at $11.148 billion as against the deficit of $16.965 billion in July-December (2022-23), showing negative growth of 34.29 per cent. During the period under review, the exports increased by 5.17 percent to $14.981 billion compared to the exports of $14.244 billion during the corresponding period of last year, according to the latest PBS data. On the other hand, the imports narrowed by 16.28 per cent and were recorded at $26.129 billion compared to $31.209 billion last year.