ISLAMABAD: Palm oil imports increased by 40.61 percent during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year against the imports of the same period of last year. The palm oil imports during July-May (2020-21) were recorded at $2397.316 million against the imports of $1704.909 million during July-May (2019-20), showing an increase of 40.61 percent, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In terms of quantity, Pakistan imported 2,957,210 metric tons of palm oil during the period under review as compared to the imports of 2,752,872 metric tons last year, showing an increase of 7.42 percent. On the other hand, soya bean oil imports also increased by 54.30 percent by going up from $46.403 million last year to $71.602 million during the current fiscal year. In terms of quantity, the soya bean oil imports increased by 40.39 by going up from 67,595 metric tons, to 94,826 metric tons. Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the palm oil imports increased by 89.15 percent in May 2021 as compared to the imports of May 2020. They were recorded at $255.120 million in May 2021 against the imports of $134.880 million in May 2020, the PBS data pointed out. On month-on-month basis, the palm oil imports however, decreased by 9.29 percent in May 2021 as compared to the imports of $281.262 million in April 2021. The soya bean imports on a year-on-year basis witnessed 2091 percent increase by going up from $0.420 million in May 2020 to $9.205 million. It is pertinent here to mention here that the overall merchandize exports from the country increased by 14.05 percent during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The exports of the country during July-May (2020-21) were recorded at $22.576 billion against the exports of $19.795 billion during July-May (2019-20). Based on the figures, the country’s trade deficit increased by 30.44 percent during the period under review as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The trade deficit during the period was recorded at $27.463 billion against the deficit of $21.054 billion last year.