ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s food import bill surged 11.66 per cent to $9.150 billion in the financial year 2025-26 from $8.195bn during the same period last year, largely led by higher purchases of sugar and edible oil.

The gap between food imports and exports widened during the year as exports of fruits and vegetables declined sharply, particularly to Afghanistan, following the suspension of bilateral trade in October 2025.

The trend has increased the country’s reliance on imported food items.

Meanwhile, exports of raw food products fell 29.49pc to $5.017bn in FY26 from $7.116bn in the preceding fiscal year, according to official data.

Raw food exports fall 29pc to $5bn, widening trade gap

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.

The product-wise data showed that rice exports dropped 31pc to $2.291bn in FY26 from $3.353bn in FY25. Exports of basmati rice, however, edged up 1.5pc to $843.002 million from $830.570m over the same period last year. However, export volumes of basmati rice slipped 1.66pc year-on-year (YoY).

The decline was concentrated in non-basmati rice, where export earnings fell 42.57pc to $1.448bn in FY26 from $2.522bn a year earlier. Export volumes of non-basmati rice also dropped 30.18pc compared to the previous fiscal year.

The Ministry of Commerce has extended the subsidy scheme for rice exports by another three months, until September 30, and raised the Duty Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) rate for non-basmati rice to support exporters facing weaker international demand.

The higher drawback rate and extension of the scheme are expected to provide temporary relief to exporters of coarse rice, which has been the hardest hit segment of Pakistan’s rice exports during the past year.

Similarly, the export of meat recorded a growth of 7.10pc during FY26 on a YoY basis. The exports of fish products recorded a 3.57pc growth. Most of other food products recorded a negative growth. Vegetables registered the steepest fall, plunging by 55.72pc and fruits 0.02pc. Tobacco exports recorded a negative growth of 14.41pc, and spice exports declined by 8.77pc during FY26.

On the import side, palm oil constituted the largest share among imported food items, followed by pulses, tea, soya bean oil and sugar.

Pakistan imported 309,545 tonnes of sugar in FY26, marking an unprecedented increase of 8,716.43pc compared to just 3,508 tonnes in the same period last year, according to official trade data.

In value terms, sugar imports jumped to $175.182m in FY26 from $3.508m a year earlier, reflecting a sharp rise of 4,893.80pc. The surge follows the government’s decision to allow large-scale imports to address domestic shortages and contain rising prices in local markets.

The value of palm oil imports surged to $3.785bn during July-June FY26, up from $3.395bn a year ago, reflecting a growth of 11.54pc. In terms of quantity, import of palm oil reached 3.482m tonnes in FY26 from 3.214m tonnes in the corresponding months last year, showing an increase of 8.36pc. This growth shows higher consumption of edible oil and ghee in Pakistan.

However, Pakistan imported pulses worth $832.038m compared to $1.016bn last year, showing a decline of 18.13pc.

During July-June FY26, soybean oil imports value reached $108.683m, declining 68.41pc from $344.028m recorded in the same period last year.

The import bill for all other food items rose 31.62pc to $3.011bn in FY26 from $2.288bn a year ago. The import of tea experienced a slight increase of 4.23pc during the reviewed months, with its value reaching $664.601m from $637.618m.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2026