Despite being an agricultural country, Pakistan’s food items imports during the outgoing financial year rose by 55 percent to Rs1,331 billion.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released a report on the food import bill according to which wheat worth Rs157.78 billion was imported during the last fiscal.
According to the report 3.612 million metric tons of wheat was imported from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021.
Tea leaves worth Rs92 billion, pulses worth Rs112 billion and palm oil worth Rs424 billion were imported during the financial year 2020-21.
Spices worth Rs35 billion, dried fruits worth Rs12 billion, milk, cream and other goods worth Rs30 billion were imported during the same period,
According to the report, goods worth Rs21 billion were imported from China.
OTHER ITEMS: Meanwhile, mobile phones import increased by 50.75 percent to Rs331.94 billion during FY21 as against Rs220.06 billion over the previous year. However, the import of construction and electrical machinery dipped by 26.52 percent and 25.37 percent, respectively. The import of agriculture machinery posted a paltry growth of 0.83pc.
The import of petroleum products was up by 9.03 percent in value in the FY21 and increased by 28.73 percent in quantity. Crude oil imports rose by 14.15 percent in value and 32.02 percent in quantity during the period under review while those of liquefied natural gas fell by 1.69 percent in value. However, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports jumped 60.70 percent in value in FY21 largely to plug a shortfall in local production.
