ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Edible oils almost doubled their share in total import bill ($2.78 billion) to 4.36 per cent during the first quarter of 2002-03, from about 2.88 per cent for the same period of previous year.

An analysis of the foreign trade figures, supplied by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, shows that the imports of palm oil and soyabean oil jumped nearly 19 per cent to 291,000 tons in July-September, signifying total failure of all the schemes undertaken in Pakistan so far to terminate reliance on imports.

The accelerated imports in the current financial year may have been understandable had these occurred in an environment of declining international prices.

On the other hand, the figures show that the palm oil has been imported at a price higher by 46.12% over that prevailing in July-September of 2001. As a result, the edible oil import bill of $121.28 million rose 69.2% in the first quarter of current financial year. This raised further the share of edible oils in food group ($228.50 million) to 53.07% from about 50% during the first two months of current financial year.

According to the FBS data, the import of petroleum crude registered a reverse trend with a sharp quantitative drop of 13.95% for the period under review. The country imported 1,679,685 tons. Conversely, its share ($325.77 million) in total import bill also fell about 3% to 11.7%.

The machinery group with total imports of $618.42 million increased its share in overall import bill from 19.69% to 22.23%, secondarily only to the petroleum group (25.12%). As compared to the same period of previous year, imports in this group recorded a growth rate of 25.42%.

In this group, imports of electrical machinery & apparatus topped all other categories with a growth rate of 81.12%. Its imports totalled $44.56 million. The rising trend in this category is under scrutiny at the National Tariff Commission to determine whether it is a case of dumping or just “surge”.

During the period under review, the country spent as much as $100.60 million on import of roadmotor vehicles, denoting an increase of 35.73% over July-September 2001. The details of these imports were not given in the FBS data.

Another category that was characterized by upward trend was power generating machinery. The import bill of this category amounted to $53.81 million — 44.58% more than last year.

The following items showed negative trend: Office machines including data processing equipment (18.70%), textile machinery (9.57%), construction & mining machinery (30.22%).

The second most important group in terms of import bill is agricultural and other chemicals group. The country spent $530.40 million on imports of this category which includes fertilizer, insecticides, plastic materials and medicinal products, etc. It accounted for 19.06% of total import bill. Imports of these items were up by 8.54%.

The textile group features synthetic fibre, synthetic & artificial silk yarn and worn clothing. Their imports (worth $54.68 million) during the period of review increased by 36.19%.

According to the FBS data, the quantity of fertilizer imported by Pakistan was 335,207 tons, denoting a negative growth of 20.90%. In dollars, however, the fertilizer import bill was over 21% higher.

The metals group, which includes iron & steel scrap, iron and steel and aluminium wrought & worked, dropped 12.27%.

Under the miscellaneous group, the country imported 1.3 million rubber tyres and tubes, that is, 82.82% more than during July-September 2001.

The ‘others’ containing minor items surged by 28.04% over the corresponding period of previous year. Amounting to $475.19 million, these increased their share in total import bill from 14.82% to 17.08%.