11/01/2013 (The News International) - Palm oil imports witnessed a sharp decline of 16.62 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year as against the same period last year, according to official data on Thursday. Pakistan imported palm oil worth $864.311 million during July-November (2012-13) against the imports of $1,036.616 million in July- November (2011-12), according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data. In terms of quantity, the palm oil imports witnessed negative growth of 4.76 percent by falling from the imports of 886,333 metric tons last year to 844,178 metric tons during the period under review. In rupee terms, the palm oil imports during July-November (2012-13) stood at Rs.82,007 million against the imports of 89,917 during the same period last year.

During November 2012, the palm oil imports witnessed a decline of 19.10 percent against the imports during the same month last year (November 2011); however, it increased by 59.26 percent as compared to the imports of October 2012, revealed data. The imports of soyabean oil witnessed an increase of 38.32 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year. The soyabean imports were recorded at $44.025 million in July-November (2012- 13) against the imports of $31.829 million during the same period last year, revealed PBS data. In terms of quantity, the soyabean oil imports increased from 24,064 metric tons to 34,238 metric tons, witnessing an increase of 42.28 percent. In the rupee terms, the soyabean oil imports witnessed an increase of 50.98 percent by going up from imports of Rs2,760 million last year to Rs4,167 million during the current year. The overall food imports in the country witnessed a decline of 12.84 percent by falling from $2.132 billion last year to 1.859 billion this year.

The overall imports in the county during the period under review witnessed a decline of 0.91 percent, whereas the exports increased by 7.85 percent as compared to the same period last year. During the current year, the imports in the country were recorded at $18.250 against the imports of $18.417 during last year, whereas the exports stood at $10.082 billion against the exports of $9.348 billion. Based on these figures, the trade deficit decreased by 9.93 percent by going down from the deficit of $9.069 billion last year to $8.168 billion this year. —APP