ISLAMABAD: Bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Germany has been witnessing ups and downs over last five years because total trade figures remained fluctuating during these years.
The statistics reveal that bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Germany had been $ 2210.745 million in the fiscal year 2010-11, %2174.903 million in next fiscal year 2011-12 and $ 2316.954 million in the financial year 2012-13. Moreover, trade volume in the fiscal year 2013-14 was $2373.046 million and $ 2136.675 million in next financial year. This indicates a fluctuating trend in the trade between Pakistan and Germany.
However, Ministry of Commerce (MoC) is keeping vigilant eye on the ups and downwards trends in Pak-German trade over the years. MoC has been following the practice of linking downwards trend of bilateral trade volume to the international market cession as well as reduced demand of commodities in the German market. But at the same time, MoC claimed entire credit of slight increase in the trade volume especially in export quantity of Pakistani goods to Germany.
A well placed source at MoC shared information with Customs Today which stated that Germany was one of the largest trading partner of Pakistan within the single market of European Union (EU), accounting for 16.17% of Pakistan’s total exports to the EU and 23.68% of Pakistan’s total imports from the EU.
As per informative data available with Customs Today, under the existing arrangement of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) plus, exports of Pakistan enjoy tariff preferences in the Federal Republic of Germany. The bilateral trade has grown to $ 2.136 billion in 2014-15.
The main items of exports to Germany include clothing of textile fabrics (28% of total exports), made-up articles of textile materials (22%), cotton fabric (woven) (7%), sports goods toys etc. (4.5%), medical/ surgical instruments, carpets 18 & rugs, leather, chemical material & products, molasses, fabrics, rice, cotton yarn, footwear etc. Pakistan’s major imports from Germany.
The major items of imports include machinery and parts (56% of total imports), chemical material and products (6%), chemical elements and compounds (5%), iron and steel manufacturers thereof (4%), musical instruments and supplies, medical and pharmaceutical products, road vehicles and their parts, manufacturers of non-ferrous metals, dying, tanning and coloring materials, oil seeds and oleaginous fruits, measuring, checking and control. Instruments, cosmetics and perfumes, paper and paper board articles, etc.