ISLAMABAD: Oil and foodstuffs imports bill dropped by 23.83 per cent to $1.231 billion in July 2014 from $1.616bn a year ago.

The country’s total import bill droped 11.88pc to $3.364bn in July 2014 as against $3.814bn, showed data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.

The import bill of food products fell by 2.64pc during the month under review from the same month a year ago. Import of milk products, dry-fruit, tea, sugar and pulses increased substantially because of their shortage in the domestic market.

Statistics showed that oil import bill declined marginally by 29.25pc in July 2014 from a year ago.

Import of crude oil declined by 51.11pc and import of petroleum products fell by 16.68pc during the month under review over last year.

Textile and clothing: Export of textile and clothing witnessed a negative growth of 2.37pc in the first month of the current fiscal year from a year ago.

Fall in export of primary and semi-value-added products led to the decline. Only six textile products witnessed positive export growth among all textile and clothing categories. In June 2014, export of textile and clothing fell by 1.52pc over the same month last year.

The government announced a cash subsidy for promotion of export of value-added textile and clothing exports from July 1. Statistics show that the package helped increase exports of value-added sector during the first month of the current fiscal year. The growth was witnessed in the value-added textile sector exports to EU countries.

In the value-added sector, product-wise details show that export of bedwear increased by 21.66pc, knitwear 14.54pc and readymade garments 3.76pc. Export of towels was up by 7.43pc during the month under review over last year. In the non-value added sector, export of cotton carded was up by 104.48pc and tents by 42.45pc during the month under review from a year ago.

Contrary to this, export of raw cotton declined by 57.96pc, cotton yarn 35.32pc, cotton cloth 8.13pc, yarn other than cotton yarn 12.93pc, art silk 12.64pc, made-up articles 5.59pc and other textile material 14.44 pc.

Total export proceeds dipped by 7.88pc to $1.929bn in July 2014 from $2.094bn in FY13.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2014