ISLAMABAD, March 9: Pakistan’s exports of rice, raw cotton, tobacco, fertilizer manufactured, plastic materials, transport equipment and gems fell drastically during July-February period of the current financial year against the same period of the last year.

And exports during eight months of the current financial year stood at $5.809 billion this year against $5.988 billion during the same period last year, a decrease of 2.99 per cent.

Provisional figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Saturday for eight months of the current fiscal year, showed the exports of rice fell by 16.74pc, raw cotton by 33.38pc, tobacco by 22.93pc, fertilizer manufactured 59.39pc, plastic materials by 56.85pc, transport equipment by 59.24pc, gems by 61.15pc, machinery specialized for particular industries by 31.02pc and jewellry by 19.5pc.

The total export of rice during the July-Feb of the current financial year stood at $286.124 million against $343.664 million during the same period last year, raw cotton $9.901m this year against $116.347m last year, tobacco $3.012m against $3.908m last year, fertilizer manufactured $3.264m this year against $8.037m last year, plastic materials $12.155m this year against $28.169m last year, transport equipment $1.372m this year against $3.366m last year, gems $0.655m against $1.686m, jewellry $13.200m against $16.398m last year, art, silk and synthetic textile $260.313m this year against $350.449m last year and machinery specialized for particular industries $7.128m against $10.334m during the same period last year.

However, during the July-Feb period of the current financial year exports of wheat, oil seeds, nuts and kernels, electric fans, auto parts, furniture and molasses registered a marginal increase in comparison to the same period of the last year.

Export of wheat increased by 762.78 per cent during the same period this year over the corresponding period of last year, oil seed, nuts and kernels surged by 113.6pc, electric fans by 56.35pc, auto parts by 45.35pc, furniture by 28.83pc and molasses by 128.41pc.

During February this year, exports of rice; raw cotton; fish and fish preparations; tobacco; spices; oil seeds, nuts and kernels; knitwear; tents, canvas and tarpaulin; art, silk, and synthetic textile; sports goods; leather garments; surgical goods and medical instrument; cutlery; plastic materials, electric fans; transport equipment; machinery specialized for particular industries; auto-parts and gems registered a negative growth in comparison to last year.

While exports in February this year declined by 6.79 per cent to $652.101 million against $754.719 million during the same month last year.

In February this year export of rice declined by 50.31pc in comparison to the same month last year; raw cotton by 70.40pc; fish and fish preparations by 29.39pc; tobacco by 31.78pc; spices by 32.16pc; oil seeds, nuts and kernels by 61.58pc; knitwear by 38.89pc; tents, canvas and tarpaulin by 66.17pc; art, silk and synthetic textile by 43.77pc; sports goods by 44.26pc; leather garments by 45.23pc; surgical goods and medical instrument by 37.09pc; cutlery by 58.62pc, plastic materials by 75.07pc; electric fans by 32.27pc; transport equipment by 62.39pc; machinery specialized for particular industries by 52.31pc; auto parts by 69.16pc and gems by 87.40pc.

The loss occurred in the foreign exchange through decline in exports during eight months of the current financial year partially off set by 89.09 per cent decline in sugar imports and 24.36 per cent fall in imports of petroleum products, which stood at $1.751 billion this year against $2.490 billion during the same period last year.

On the other hand, import during the July-Feb period this fiscal declined by 10.09 per cent to $6.465 billion this year against $7.191 billion during the same period last year.

Further break-up showed that in terms of value, imports of petroleum products declined by 32.43 per cent during the July-Feb period of current fiscal to $920.278 million this year against $1.361 billion during the same period last year.

And import of petroleum crude fell by 12.47 per cent to $808.438 million during the same period this year against $923.601 million last year.

Similarly, imports of soyabean oil declined by 77.53 per cent during the July-Feb this year in comparison to the same period last year and tea by 26.36 per cent over the last year.

However, imports of construction and mining machinery increased by 40.99pc during the July-Feb this year to $63.893m against $45.319m last year, while imports of iron and steel scrap increased by 56.25pc during the same period this year to $36.576m against $23.409m during the same period last year.