CPEC supports machinery imports; textile exports fall

KARACHI: Pakistan’s machinery imports jumped 60.4 percent to $2.735 billion for the first quarter of the current fiscal year on China-funded projects, but the key textile exports continued to fall on subdued international demand. 

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data showed on Thursday that textile exports fell 5.96 percent to $ 3.028 billion in the July-Sept period of 2016/17. The machinery imports outpaced the import bill of petroleum products, which used to be the main dollars’ consumer in the past. 

The construction activities related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects are giving a boost to the imports of machinery.  Owing to the soft international crude oil prices, petroleum imports slid 4.80 percent to $2.356 billion during the first quarter. 

Power generation turbines and equipment imports more than doubled to $794.707 million for the three-month period under review as compared to $315.806 million in the corresponding period a year earlier. Electric machinery and appliances imports increased 32.49 percent to $448.513 million. 

In July-September, textile machinery imports amounted to $115.696 million as compared to $109.438 million in the comparable period a year earlier.  Telecom sector seems to have reached the saturation point as both imports of mobile phone and telecom apparatus continued to show the downward trend in the first quarter, down 15.21 percent to $146.562 million and 6.29 percent to $131.132 million, respectively. 

Food imports increased 9.70 percent to $ 1.359 billion in the first quarter. Import bill of palm oil amounted to $368.379 million, down 15.85 percent. Soybean imports, however, were up 17.17 percent to $43.297 million. Tea imports soared 10.79 percent to $134.448 million. 

In July-September, transport group’s imports increased 8.02 percent to $692.370 million over the same period a year ago despite 69 percent decline in imports of motorcycles.  The PBS data showed that the some segments of value-added textile sector underwent downward trend, whereas some others got a little boost.

In the first quarter, knitwear exports fell 3.85 percent to $ 606.113 million. Bedwear, however, fetched $528.845 million, slightly up 2.82 percent. Readymade garments exports were also up 3.04 percent to $521.508 million. Cotton cloth exports declined 3.90 percent to $539.105 million. 

The PBS said exports of raw cotton and cotton yarn fell 68.53 percent to $17.454 million and 20.68 percent to $303.805 million, respectively in the first three months of 2016/17.  Raw cotton imports also rose 26.37 percent to $71.574 million in the period under review. 

Leather exporters earned the country $124.571 million in exports revenue, down 8.82 percent. Exports of engineering goods, however, marginally improved 2.47 percent to $44.348 million. 

The PBS data further showed that machinery imports increased 58.65 percent to $876.615 million in September over the same month last year. They decreased 22.92 percent month on month (MoM). 

Oil imports soared 12.40 percent year-on-year (YoY) and 15.14 percent MoM to $844.521 million in September.  The data showed that textile exports slid 12.11 percent YoY and 11.71 percent MoM to $ 961.043 million in September.