ISLAMABAD: Regulatory duty on export of potato, cultivation of non-recommended varieties as well as banned export of wheat and sugar remained main reasons for decreased export of four major agriculture commodities.
According to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar volume of exports reduced to 1.93% in the first half of the fiscal year because volume of exports remained Rs 12.22 billion whereas it was Rs 12.46 billion in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Likewise, there was an increase of 4.08% in imports because the volume of imports remained Rs 22.02 billion whereas it was Rs 21.16 billion in the same time period of the previous fiscal year. Thus there is an increase of 12.69% in trade deficit which is tune to Rs 9.80 billion which was Rs 8.7 billion in first half of the last fiscal year.
A well placed source at Ministry of Commerce (MoC) told this scribe here on Saturday that the exports of vegetables decreased from $ 246.8 million in 2012-13 to US$ 210 million in 2013-14 and process of lowering vegetables’ export continued in coming fiscal year and it decreased from $ 63.8 million in July-November 2013-14 to $ 42.7 million in July-November, 2014-15.
“The chief contributors in exports of vegetables are Potato and onions and in 2013-14 export of potato was 257,661 MT as compared to 481,574 MT during 2012-13” the source added saying that there was 25% regulatory duty on export of potato which was lifted on December 24,2014” the source added.
The source said that exports of tobacco decreased from $ 25.3 million in 2012-13 to $ 22.6 million in 2013-14 as well as tobacco exports further decreased from $ 7 million in July-November 2013-14 to $ 6.1 million in July-November 2014-15.
“The reasons for decline in export of tobacco are cultivation of non-recommended varieties (NPV’s) of tobacco by growers” the source added saying that NPVs of tobacco constituted a significant amount of the total tobacco production which remained poor quality and many export orders were cancelled due to this reason.
The source said that exports of wheat decreased from $ 53.6 million in 2012-13 to $7 million in 2013-14 as well as wheat exports decreased from $ 6.9 million in July-November, 2013-14 to$ 0 in July-November 2014-15.
“The reason for decline in export of wheat is that export of wheat is banned, only restricted amount of wheat export is allowed by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet” the source added.
Thee source said that export of sugar decreased from $ 530 million in 2012-13 to $ 287.5 million in 2013-14 as well as sugar export increased from $ 67.6 million in July-November 2013-14 to $ 98.6 million in July-November 2014-15. “The reason for decline in export of sugar is that export of sugar is banned, only restricted amount of sugar export is allowed by Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet.
The source added that export of spices decreased from $ 68.4 million in 2012-13 to $ 56.4 million in 2013-14, however, the export increased from $ 17.7 million in July-November 2013-14 to $ 23.1 million in July-November 2014-15.
The source elaborated that as per Pakistan Tobacco Board’s law, the price of tobacco had to be increased on yearly basis and this increase in prices had decreased the profits of exporters therefore our tobacco exports had become less competitive.
“The exporters are not getting the profits on export of tobacco from International market, hence resulting in decline of exports of tobacco” the source added.
