Over 340,237 metric tons of rice valued at $233.991 million were exported during the first two months of the current financial year as compared to exports of 507,144 metric worth $283.056 million in the corresponding period of last year.
During the period from July-August, 2023 rice exports from the country decreased by 17.33 per cent as against the exports of the same period of the last year, according to data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. However, during the period under review exports of Basmati rice grew by 8.29 per cent as 79,257 metric tons of rice valued at $94.733 million were exported as compared to the exports of 84,709 metric tons costing $87.480 million the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the country earned $39.338 million by exporting about 20,539 metric tons of fish and fish preparations as compared to the exports of 15,922 metric tons of fish and fish products worth $38.086 million in the same period of last year. It may be recalled here that food group exports during the first two months of the current financial year decreased by 1.65 per cent as food commodities valued at $711.748 million were exported as compared to the exports of $723.696 million of the same period of last year.
On the other hand food group imports into the country during first two months of current financial year decreased by 26.91 per cent as compared to the imports of the corresponding period of last year. During the period from July-August, 2023 food imports into the country came down from $1.783 billion to $1.303 billion.
