PESHAWAR: Showing signs of improvement, export of the top 30 items to Afghanistan have pitched at $191.48 million during the first quarter, July-September, of the current financial year which in July had dropped to $46 million.
It is worth mentioning here that only in the last month (June) of the last fiscal year, the export of these items to the landlocked neighbouring country stood at $75.84 million.The document shared with Media by local Customs authorities indicated that export of top 30 consumer items dropped alarmingly in the first month the current fiscal, but it started improving during the last two months with a sharp surge in September.
Besides, a few other items the 30 top items the export of which to Afghanistan is recorded here include cement, wheat flour, pharmaceutical, milk, confectionery, vegetable ghee, paints, MDF sheets, rice, girders, automotive batteries, leather shoes, fruit, washing powder, chilled beef, juices, steel utensils, culled chicken, beverages, packing carton, IV solutSaturdayion, dioctyl phthalate, eggs, polyester, cosmetics, motorcycles, poultry feed, food stuff, chip board, safety matches.
The previous financial year proved to be the sluggish one for Pakistan’s exports as in terms of value exports to that country had fallen by 27 percent by the end of May, but in June it recovered to an extent.
The value of goods exported to Afghanistan also decreased and during 2014-15, recorded at Rs147.717 billion, while xports during the last fiscal stood at Rs123.368 billion.
The exports of the 30 items as mentioned above in the month of July touched the lowest ebb with $46.06 million. However, it improved in August with the export figure of $70.52 million, but in September it returned to the scale recorded at the previous year and touched the figure of $74.94 million.
Like all previous months the wheat flour and cement remained major exports items during the last three months of the current financial year. In terms of value both the items were recorded at an export volume of $ 58.62 million.
The document of the Customs authorities shows that the wheat flour of $ 30.97 million was exported to Afghanistan during the July-September period of the current fiscal. Separately, the flour of $18.86 million in the month of September, $6.83 million in August, and $5.29 million wheat flour was exported to Afghanistan.
Similarly, the cement worth $27.65 million exported to the neighbouring country during the first quarter of the current financial year. The cement export of just $7.65 million was recorded in July and in August went up to $9.49 million while in September it jumped to $18.86 million.
The rice also remained of the major export item during the first three months of the fiscal with total volume of $11.58 million exported to Afghanistan. In July rice valued at $1.22 million was exported to Afghanistan, and in August the value of rice exported across the border was recorded at $4.45 million but in September it showed a marked improvement with $5.91 million. The export of pharmaceuticals, plastic items, confectionary, vegetables, fruits, paints, vegetable ghee and construction material have also started improving manifestly.
