KARACHI, Nov 11: The 35 per cent rise in fish and preparations exports during July-October 2003 followed by 28 per cent increase in October 2003 alone shows the confidence of foreign buyers in procurement of fisheries items that are being caught in the deep sea and not from the coastline, which saw massive oil spill from Tasman Spirit that ran aground in July-August.

Exporters said that foreign buyers had been making fresh orders despite negative forecast by some market analysts that the fish exports might plunge after August.

Pakistan exported 11,204 tons ($21.5 million) of fish in October 2003, up by 3.75 per cent in quantity (10,799 tons) and 1.56 per cent in value ($21 million) during September 2003. In October, exports stood at 9,701 tons, fetching $17 million, thus showing a rise of 15 and 28 per cent in quantity and value respectively, figures of Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) said.

Cumulative exports during July-October 2003 rose by 26 and 35 per cent in quantity (33,476 tons) and value ($66 million) respectively as compared to 26,537 tons valuing $48.6 million in the same period of 2002.

Director A.G. Fisheries, Hyder Ali said that the issue of oil spill had not made any adverse impact on the Pakistan’s fisheries exports and so far foreign buyers were satisfied with the quality of fish.

He attributed the rising trend in exports during October to the heavy buying by European buyers for the Christmas and New Year. He said exporters had to ensure timely shipments of fish in October so that the consignments could reach by December 15 to the foreign destinations.

Hyder said that shipments in November may witness some slackness as majority of exporters had fulfilled their December orders.

According to the State Bank annual report 2002-2003, fisheries sector showed an impressive recovery with double-digit growth of 16.6 per cent in 2002-2003 as against the 12 per cent decline in 2001-2002. This was because the contribution to growth from higher marine catches was augmented by the concurrent rise in inland fishing (enabled by the rising waters in rivers and lakes during 2002-2003).

Holding a tiny share of 3.4 per cent in agriculture and 0.8 per cent in the GDP, this growth presently has little impact on the aggregate growth in agriculture and in turn in GDP. Exports receipts from fish stood at $134 million contributing 10.6 per cent to the exports of primary commodities and 1.2 per cent to the total export receipts and were 7.1 per cent higher than 2001- 2002.

Despite its small share in fish production, a disproportionately higher number of people (with a share of 62.2 per cent of the total employment of around 365,000 people in fishing sector) are engaged in inland fishing.