ISLAMABAD: The cutlery exports from the country increased by 1.68 percent during the first eleven months of fiscal year (2018-19) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan exported cutlery worth $84.009 million during July-May (2018-19) against the exports of $82.620 million during July-May (2017-18), showing growth of 1.68 percent, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

On year-on-year basis, the cutlery exports from the country during May 2019 witnessed positive growth of 30.74 percent when compared to the same month of last year.

The cutlery exports during May 2019 were recorded at $9.383 million against the export of $7.177 million in May 2018.

Meanwhile, on month-on-month basis, the cutlery export in May 2019, however witnessed decrease of 7.50 percent when compared to the export of $10.144 million in April 2019.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country's overall merchandize trade deficit plunged by 13.62 per cent during the first eleven months of fiscal year 2018-19 compared to the corresponding period of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The trade deficit contracted by 13.62 per cent to $29.207 billion during the period against the deficit of $33.812 billion recorded during last year.

The exports during the period under review witnessed nominal decrease of 0.3% by falling from $21.330 billion during last year to $21.267 billion.

On the other hand, the imports declined by 8.47 per cent to $50.474 billion during the period under review from $55.142 billion last year, the data revealed.

On year-on-year basis, the exports declined by 1.72 per cent, from $2.139 billion in May 2018 to $2.102 billion in May 2019 while the imports declined by 12.8 per cent from $5.782 billion in May 2018 to $5.042 billion in May 2019, the data revealed.