Cement exports up 25pc in 11 months

ISLAMABAD: Cement exports from Pakistan witnessed an increase of 25.97 percent to $260.169 million during the first eleven months of the ongoing fiscal year against the exports of $206.526 million during July-May (2017-18), official data showed.

According to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), cement exports increased by 46.18 percent to 6,127,835 tons from 4,192,060 tons. Exports witnessed decrease of 17.97 percent at $17.050 million during the month of May 2019 compared $20.785 million May 2018.

The country’s merchandise trade deficit plunged by 13.62 percent during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year. Further, trade deficit contracted by 13.62 percent to $29.207 billion during July-May (2018-19) against the deficit of $33.812 billion recorded during July-May (2017-18).

The exports during the period under review witnessed nominal decrease of 0.3 percent to $21.267 billion during the ongoing fiscal year, falling from $21.330 billion during last year.

On the other hand, imports declined by 8.47 percent to $50.474 billion during the period under review from $55.142 billion last year, the data revealed.