ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: The machinery group imports ($438.19 million) declined by 1.03 per cent during the first two months of the fiscal 2003-04 as compared to the same period of previous fiscal.
This group’s share in overall imports ($2024.05 million) also dropped to the level of 23.07 per cent as against 26.65 per cent of the same period of previous year, according to an analysis of the foreign trade statistics available from the Federal Bureau of Statistics.
The main contributors to the decline in this group’s imports were office machines, including computers ($33.72 million), textile machinery ($73.98 million), construction machinery ($13.90 million), and others ($134.77 million). These items registered a negative growth of 2.83pc, 3.85pc, 17.43pc and 7.64pc, respectively, as compared to the same period of previous year.
Roadmotor vehicles, on the other hand, remained as strident as ever with imports of $89.68 million, representing the highest tab among all categories except others. The imports in this category surged by 18.35pc.
Besides, the imports of power generating machinery ($46.56 million) and electrical machinery and apparatus ($35.08 million) rose by 7.26pc and 8.93pc, respectively, during the period under review.
PETROLEUM GROUP: This group, on the top in terms of import bill ($466.95 million), showed 7.60pc decline during the period July-August 2003. The petroleum products within this group plummeted by more than a quarter to stand at $195.71 million.
The vertical fall in this group as a whole was, however, offset to a significant extent by 11.74pc increase in import of petroleum crude (271.23 million). The quantity of petroleum crude imported during the period under review was 1,320,177 tons — 3.77pc more than in July-August 2002.
Petroleum crude thus accounted for 13.40pc of total imports, that is, 0.60pc more than during the same period of previous year.
Most other groups in the non-food category recorded positive growth during the period under review:
TEXTILE GROUP: It includes synthetic fibre, synthetic and artificial silk yarn and worn clothing, added $40.29 million to the import bill, denoting an increase of 11.17pc.
AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER CHEMICALS GROUP: The import bill of this group ($424.31 million) shot up 17pc during the period under review. Its share in overall imports, consequently, moved up to 20.96pc from the 19.12pc of the same period of previous year.
Within this group, the country imported 259,526 tons of fertilizers at a cost of $47.952 million, marking the hefty increase of 48pc. Quantity-wise, the fertilizer import surged by 43.71pc. Other items in this category include insecticides (12,107 tons), plastic materials (106,420 tons), and medicinal products (1,469 tons), denoting increases of 29.60pc, 23.14pc and 6.06pc, respectively.
METALS AND MISCELLANEOUS GROUP: In aggregate, the import bill of this group containing industrial raw materials, intermediates as well as finished products such tyres and tubes stood at $140.22, denoting a growth rate of 10.65pc. Its share in total imports too improved further from 6.68pc of previous year to 6.93pc during the period under review.
FOOD GROUP: The imports in this group ($143.00) million plummeted by 13.85pc. Its share in total imports, by the same dint, decreased to 7.07pc, as against 8.75pc of corresponding period of previous year.
The contributory factors in this development were zero imports of wheat, of which 16,359 tons had been imported in July-August 2002, and a sharp drop in import of pulses. As against 35,356 tons of pulses imported during corresponding period of previous year, the period under review saw an import of 29,319 tons, down 72.74pc. Their import bill ($8.23 million) showed a 76.72pc decline.
EDIBLE OILS: The quantity of edible oils imported during the period under review further surged by 9.23pc to 222,140 tons. The aggregate bill of soybean and palm oil stood at $99.73 million, denoting a hefty increase of 18.22pc over the corresponding period of previous year.
The upshot was that the edible oils import bill constituted 69.74pc of the total food group import bill, as against 50.82pc of previous year.