Daily Times

The United States remained Pakistan’s largest export market, with $607 million worth of goods exported to the country in December 2021, showing a growth of 43 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Advisor to the PM on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood shared this in a tweet on Tuesday, saying that Pakistan’s exports in December 2021 have seen a rise as compared to the same period last year.

He said the US was followed by China as Pakistan’s second-largest exporting destination, with the country purchasing goods worth $325 million in December 2021, an increase of 25 percent.

Sharing further details, Dawood said that exports to the Netherlands, Spain, Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Kazakhstan also increased.

However, the exports to the UK, Germany, Afghanistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia declined in December 2021 as compared to the same period last year, the advisor shared.

He said that exports of fish and allied products, plastics, cement, cotton fabric and rice have witnessed an increase in the said period. The advisor said that exports of men’s garments, home textiles, rice, ladies’ garments, jerseys, cardigans and T-shirts also witnessed upsurge during the same period.

The data showed that Pakistan’s exports of men’s garments increased by 26pc, home textiles by 2pc, rice by 5pc, cotton fabric by 17pc, cotton yard by 11pc, women’s garments by 13pc, jerseys & cardigans by 55pc, T-shirts by 46pc, fish & fish products by 64pc, plastics by 70pc, and cement by 45pc in December 2021 as compared to December 2020.

During the same period, the advisor said that exports of fruits, vegetables and surgical instruments declined. The data showed that Pakistan’s exports of fruits & vegetables and surgical instruments declined by 19pc and 3pc respectively.

Earlier on Sunday, Dawood said Pakistan’s exports increased by 16.7pc to $2.761 billion during December 2021 against the targeted $2.8 billion, compared to $2.366 billion in December 2020. During the first half of the current FY (Jul-Dec 2021), he added that exports increased by 25pc to $15.125 billion as compared to $12.110 billion during July-December 2020. The export target for the first half of this FY was $15 billion, he added.