Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir on Monday said that imports stood at $34 billion during July-March 2014-15 and there has been a 21 percent rise in exports to the European Union in 2014, which translates into an additional export of $1.3 billion, the minister told the National Assembly in a written reply. The minister said that average mill consumption of last five years (2010-14) is 14.27 million bales of 170-kg (2426000 MT) while average imports of cotton during 2010-14 are 1.77 million bales of 170-kg (302000 MT). He said average exports during 2010-14 were recorded at 0.903 million bales, 154000 MT of cotton.
However, the minister said there are many reasons behind the decline in exports during the said period. He said there has been a global trend of decrease in prices of cotton and rice. These commodities have seminal importance in Pakistan's exports and decrease in prices has adversely affected Pakistan's exports, he added. He said that the average unit price (AUP) of non-basmati rice, which constitutes 70 percent of Pakistan's rice exports by value, declined by 2 percent; similarly, the AUP of cotton and yarn has declined by 78 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
The minister said the price of agricultural commodities declined and the cost of production in Pakistan increased due to rise in energy and other input costs. Pakistan's ranking in Global Competitiveness Index decreased from 128th in 2013-14 to 129th in 2014-15.
Khurram Dastgir said the appreciation of Pak Rupee during the period July-January of the current financial year as compared to the corresponding period of previous year has made Pakistan's exports less competitive. The average exchange rate of USD vs PKR, during the period July 2014 to January 2015 remained 100.183 as compared to 104.076 during the corresponding period of the previous year.
He said the reason behind decline of export is also lack of research and development. India has developed many basmati and basmati-look-alike (non-basmati) varieties during last few years whereas Pakistan has failed to develop any basmati variety during last 30 years. Consequently, the traditional markets of basmati rice are being gradually grabbed by India with high-yielding basmati varieties, he said.
The House was also informed that an amount of Rs 80 billion will be incurred for the rehabilitation of the Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs) over a period of three years. Answering a question, Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Secretariat Raja Javed Ikhlas said that Rs 20 billion have so far been released in this regard and the remaining amount will be released accordingly.
He said that 191,183 TDPs have been repatriated to FATA so far. He said the work is also under way for the reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure. Responding to a question, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said an invitation has been sent to the Russian President Vladimir Putin for visit to Pakistan. He has accepted the invitation in principle but a mutual convenient date for the visit has not yet been decided. He said during the visit co-operation projects in the field of energy, defence and commerce will materialise.
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