The imports of overall petroleum group increased by 1.35 percent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year (2024-25) as compared to the corresponding period of the last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. The total imports of the petroleum group during July-January (2024-25) stood at $ 9,458.285 million against the imports of $ 9,332.319 million during the same months of last year. Among petroleum commodities, the import of petroleum products declined by 3.69 percent, from $ 3,621.418 million last year to $ 3,487.933 million during the period under review year whereas the import of petroleum crude went up by 4.98 percent from $ 2,977.671 million to $ 3,125.918 million. Similarly, the imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) decreased by 4.17 percent from $ 2,298.143 million last year to $ 2,202.415 million while the import of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) went up by 47.54 per cent in the first seven months and stood at $641.792 million as compared to $434.991 million in the corresponding period in 2023-24. The import of all other petroleum products increased from $0.096 million last year to $0.227 million during the current year, an increase of 136.76 percent. Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the petroleum group imports witnessed an increase of 3.45 percent during the month of January 2025 as compared to the same month of last year. The imports in January 2025 were recorded at $1,372.370 compared to imports of million to $1,326.541 million. On a month-on-month basis, the petroleum imports into the country however decreased by 12.31 percent during January 2025, as compared to the imports of $ 1,565.019 million in December 2024. Separately, the exports of cement witnessed an increase of 24.85 percent during the first seven months of the fiscal year 2024-25, as against the exports of the corresponding period of last year. The cement exports from the country were recorded at US $188.091 million during July-January (2024-25) against the exports of US $150.653 million during July-January (2023-24), according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In terms of quantity, the cement export also rose by 35.34 percent from 3,896,244 metric tons to 5,273,028 metric tons, the data revealed. Meanwhile, year-on-year basis, the cement exports witnessed an increase of 40 percent during the month of January 2025 as compared to the same month of last year. The exports of cement from the country during January 2025 were recorded at US $20.619 million against the exports of US $14.728 million in January 2024. On a month-on-month basis, cement exports however decreased by 35.36 percent during January 2025 when compared to the exports of US $31.898 million in December 2024, the PBS data revealed.