Jul-Mar POL group imports witness negative growth of 11.66pc YoY

ISLAMABAD: Petroleum group imports witnessed a negative growth of 11.66 per cent during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 and remained $13.083 billion compared to $14.810 billion during the same period of last fiscal year, says Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The data of exports and imports released by the PBS revealed that petroleum group imports March 2023 and remained $1.206 billion compared to $1.264 billion in February and registered 35.19 per cent negative growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis when compared to $1.861 billion in March 2022.

Petroleum products witnessed 19.91 per cent negative growth during the first nine months of the current fiscal year and remained $5.836 billion compared to $7.287 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

On MoM basis, it remained $484.024 million in March 2023 compared to $462.706 million in February 2023 and registered 4.61 per cent growth.

On a YoY basis, petroleum products imports witnessed negative growth of 53 per cent when compared to $1.029 million in March 2022.

Petroleum crude imports witnessed a growth of 4.69 per cent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2022-23 and remained $3.860 billion when compared to $3.686 billion during the same period of last year. On a MoM basis, petroleum crude imports registered 1.57 per cent negative growth and remained $105.668 million in March 2023 compared to $383.137 million in February 2023.

On a YoY basis, petroleum crude imports witnessed a negative growth of 28.85 per cent when compared to $530.025 million in March 2022.

Agricultural and other chemicals group imports witnessed 36.99 per cent negative growth during the first nine months of the current fiscal year and remained at $6.994 billion compared to $11.101 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

Machinery group imports witnessed 48.18 per cent negative growth during the first nine months of the current fiscal year and remained at $4.494 billion compared to $8.676 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

Power generation machinery registered 67.70 per cent negative growth during the first nine months of the current fiscal year and remained $399.183 million compared to $1.235 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.

Food group imports witnessed 3.76 per cent growth during the period under review and remained at $7.333 billion compared to $7.068 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.

The country’s imports during July-March, 2022-2023 totaled $43.934 billion (provisional) as against $58.859 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing a decrease of 25.36 per cent.

The imports in March 2023 were $3.816 billion (provisional) as compared to $4.034 billion in February 2023 showing a decrease of 5.40 per cent and by 40.44 per cent as compared to $6.407 billion in March 2022.

Main commodities of imports during March 2023 were petroleum products (Rs135,625 million), petroleum crude (Rs105,668 million), natural gas, liquefied (Rs84,442 million), palm oil (Rs66,180 million), raw cotton (Rs41,737 million), plastic materials (Rs40,722 million), medicinal products (Rs37,612 million), wheat unmilled (Rs34,081 million), iron and steel (Rs33,429 million), and electric machinery and apparatus (Rs31,529 million).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023