November 23, 2001	Friday	Ramazan 7, 1422

ISLAMABAD, Nov 22: Exports declined by 20.98 per cent during September 11- November 10, 2001 to $1 billion against $1.26 billion during the same period last year.

Similarly, the total number of consignments sent abroad decreased from 76,551 to 45,515 this year, down by 40.54 per cent or 31,036 consignments.

Since the US-led attacks on Taliban, exports from Peshawar and Quetta to Afghanistan and to some Central Asian Republics came to a virtual halt between September 29 and November 10, an official source told Dawn on Wednesday.

Official figures, released here on Wednesday, said that the export from Peshawar stood at $0.38 million during September 23-29 period against $0.08 million during the same period last year, an increase of 375 per cent. But after September 29, export did not take place from Peshawar till November 10. About 135 consignments were exported during the same period against 126 last year, showing an increase of 7.14 per cent.

Similarly, up to end of September exports from Quetta stood at $5.25 million against last year’s $1.69 million, up by 210.65 per cent. However, no export took place after September 29 from Quetta. And about 374 consignments were sent against 456 consignments, showing a decrease of 17.98 per cent during the two comparative periods.

The value of exports at collectorate of exports, Karachi, dropped from 23.08 per cent at $809.07 million during September 11-November 10 period against $1051.89 million of last year for the same period. The number of consignments fell by 48.02 per cent to 33,931 from 65,279 consignments.

The comparative figures for exports at customs collectorate, Hyderabad indicated a drop of 6.89 per cent at $5.4 million from $5.8 million. However, the consignments increased by 8.78 per cent.

And the exports from Lahore declined by 20.63 per cent and stood at $33.65 million against $47.15 million. The number of consignments from Lahore were up by 4.24 per cent at 3,779 against 3,626.

Exports from Sialkot during Sept 11-Nov 3 period decreased by 0.48 per cent to $68.35 million against $68.68 million during the same period last year. Consignments dropped by 4.31 per cent from 4,723 from 4,936.

During Sept 11-Nov 2, the export value at customs collectorate, Faisalabad stood at $69.26 million this year against $64.47 million during the same period last year, up by 7.42 per cent. The consignments increased from 1,680 to 2,036, an increase of over 21 per cent.

Similarly, the exports for customs collectorate, Multan stood at $9.7 million during Sept 11-Oct 20 this year against $9.09 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 6.7 per cent. And the number of consignments rose to 376 consignments from 301.