ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s food import bill rose 13.81 per cent year-on-year to $7.848 billion in the first 10 months of 2025-26, mainly driven by higher purchases of sugar and edible oil.

The gap between food imports and exports has widened during the review period. This has increased the country’s dependence on imported food items in the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, exports of raw food products decreased 32.02pc to $4.190 billion in 10MFY26 from $6.164bn a year earlier.

The drop in exports was broad-based, with volumes declining across nearly all major food categories, except meat, which showed some resilience during the period.

Overall rice exports in April dropped 9.33pc year-on-year. However, exports of basmati rice surged 56.12pc in value and 62.36pc in quantity. By contrast, exports of non-basmati shrank by 27.97pc in value and 24.16pc in quantity in April.

Sugar and edible oil drive imports to $7.85bn in July-April

The government has announced a cash subsidy to boost rice exports.

Similarly, meat exports grew 18.33pc in April. Exports of fish products rose 7pc. Most of the other food products record a negative growth.

Vegetables registered the steepest fall, plunging by 78.38pc. However, exports of tobacco surged 80.29pc, and exports of spices rose 2pc in April. According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, palm oil constituted the largest share among imported food items, followed by pulses, tea, soyabean oil and sugar.

Pakistan imported 309,157 tonnes of sugar during July-April 2025-26, marking an unprecedented increase of 10,181.25pc compared to just 3,007 tonnes in the same period last year.

In value terms, sugar imports jumped to $174.908m in 10MFY26 from $2.978m a year earlier, reflecting a sharp rise of 5,773.35pc. The surge follows the government’s decision to allow large-scale imports to address domestic shortages and contain rising prices in local markets. Retail sugar prices have remained volatile, hovering between Rs150 and Rs180 per kilogram in different cities, prompting authorities to step in and improve supply through imports.

Officials say the move was aimed at stabilising the market amid tight domestic availability, as the country increasingly relied on external supplies to meet demand.

The value of palm oil imports rose 15.41pc to $3.313bn during July-April FY26 from $2.871bn a year ago. In terms of quantity, import of palm oil increased 11.77pc to 3.075 million tonnes in 10MFY26 from 2.751m tonnes a year earlier.

However, Pakistan imported pulses worth $624.38m in 10MFY26, compared with $823.63m in the same period last year, representing a 24.19pc decline.

Soyabean oil imports plunged 61.15pc to $108.683m in 10MFY26 from $279.768m recorded in the same period last year. The import bill for all other food items rose 35.81pc year-on-year to $2.525bn in 10MFY26. Tea imports rose to $554.889m from $527.80m.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2026