ISLAMABAD – Pakistan exports of vegetables increased by 3.4 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year as compared to the same period of last year, data from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed. The exports of vegetables were recorded at $26.716 million during July-September (2012-13) against the exports of $25.838 million during July-September (2011-12), the bureau said. The vegetable exports witnessed surge 18.46 percent during the month of September 2012 as against the exports of the same month of last year. However the vegetable exports during September 2012 shrunk by 23.79 percent when compared to the exports of August 2012. Moreover, the data revealed that the total vegetable exports during September 2012 stood at $8.003 million against the exports of $6.756 million in September 2011 and $10.501 in August 2012. On the other hand, the fruit exports in the first quarter of the current year decreased by 4.24 percent to $61.714 million when compare to the exports of $64.447 million recorded in the same period of last year. The exports of fruit in September 2012 decreased by 3.19 percent and 21.59 percent when compared to the exports of September 2011 and August 2012, respectively. The fruit exports during September 2012 stood at $20.510 million against the exports of $21.185 million in September 2011 and $26.158 in August 2012. The overall food exports were recorded at $878.680 million in the quarter under review against the exports of $993.352 million during the same period of last year. The overall exports witnessed growth of 4.26 percent while the imports decreased by 2.37 percent during the first quarter, indicating positive trends in the overall trade volume of the country. Exports during July-September (2012) were recorded at $6.187 billion against the exports of $5.934 billion during the same period of last year. On the other hand, imports decreased from $11.117 billion last year to $10.853 billion during the current fiscal year, the data further showed. Based on these figures, the overall trade deficit fell 9 percent to $4.666 this year from a deficit of $5.183 billion last year. After growing at a steady rate in the last decade, Pakistan's vegetable exports have suffered volumetric year-on-year decrease of 40.4 percent in 2011-12, according to PBS. The drop in vegetable exports is a consequence of natural disasters, unfair profiteering by middlemen and a change in supply and demand dynamics in foreign markets, All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association Co-Chairman Waheed Ahmed told The Express Tribune earlier. “The significant drop in vegetable exports is mainly because the onion crop was destroyed by floods,” he said. Pakistan exported about 150,000 tons of onion from December 2010 to March 2011. – SG/Agencies
