PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s bilateral trade with five Central Asian countries plunged 50.62% year-on-year to $219.125 million in FY26, as the closure of border trade stations with Afghanistan disrupted land-based trade routes, particularly those used to access the region.
Trade with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan stood at $443.712 million in FY25.
The decline was driven mainly by an 88.35% fall in imports, which dropped to $28.547 million from $244.990 million. Exports were comparatively resilient, falling 4.1% to $190.578 million from $198.722 million.
Pakistan’s annual trade with the Central Asian republics is estimated at between $400 million and $500 million through Afghanistan, making the disruption to Afghan transit routes a major constraint on regional commerce.
Uzbekistan has already implemented its transit trade agreement with Pakistan and has started importing goods under the arrangement.
Kazakhstan remained Pakistan’s largest trading partner among the five Central Asian countries in FY26, with bilateral trade of $104.313 million, down 54.22% from FY25. Uzbekistan followed with trade worth $87.732 million.
Tajikistan recorded the steepest decline in bilateral trade, which fell 69.56%, followed by Turkmenistan at 61.36%. Kyrgyzstan was the only country where total bilateral trade increased, rising 6.66%.
Pakistan’s exports to Kazakhstan stood at $97.888 million in FY26, compared with $98.244 million in FY25, while imports fell to $6.425 million from $129.628 million.
Exports to Uzbekistan declined 17.95% to $75.613 million from $64.107 million, while imports plunged 84.68% to $12.11 million from $79.125 million.
Exports to Tajikistan fell 61.34% to $11.867 million from $30.699 million, while imports declined 82.76% to $3.292 million from $19.094 million.
Pakistan’s exports to Turkmenistan decreased 29.3% to $1.183 million from $1.677 million, while imports fell 64.59% to $5.868 million from $16.572 million.
Exports to Kyrgyzstan stood at $4.027 million in FY26, up slightly from $3.995 million in FY25, while imports increased to $0.843 million from $0.571 million.
