ISLAMABAD: The exact magnitude of dependence that many developing countries have on commodities export is not well understood, but the latest edition of UNCTAD’s ‘State of commodity dependence 2014’ aims to fill this gap.

A country is considered ‘commodity dependent developing country’ (CDDC) when its commodity export revenues contribute to more than 60 per cent of its total good export earnings, according to the report.

In the case of Pakistan, the report said commodity exports as a percentage of GDP remained at 2.8 per cent as compared to 2.9pc in the past.

Exports of groups as a percentage of total commodity exports between 2009-10 and 2012-13 were 74pc in the case of all food items as compared to 67pc in the past; agricultural raw materials 11pc against 8pc in the past; fuels 7pc as compared to 20pc in the past; and ores, metals, precious stones and non-monetary gold 8pc against 5pc in the past. The leading commodity exports during the period remained: rice 32pc; petroleum oils or bituminous minerals 70pc, oil 7pc; and cotton 6pc.

The five leading destinations for commodity exports were South Asia, United Arab Emirates, China, European Union, and Saudi Arabia.

In 2012-13, two thirds of all developing countries were CDDCs with half of these in Africa, the guide revealed, indicating that the commodity dependence has increased since 2009-10.

Dependency on commodities is even more severe in the most vulnerable countries.

The data revealed that while developing countries rely heavily on commodities, their commodity exports are in addition highly concentrated and export revenues dependent on a handful of primary products.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2015

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