The exports of Pakistan’s pharmaceutical products during the first three months of current fiscal year grew by 22.60 per cent as compared to the exports of the corresponding period of last year.

According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, Pakistan’s exports of pharmaceutical products was $217.04 million last year.

During the period from July-September, pharmaceutical products worth $68,176 thousand were exported as compared to the exports of $55,609 thousand of same period of last year.

Pakistan is setting up its own medical equipment industry by starting the production of various equipments, said Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry during a press conference on Saturday.

“We import medical equipment worth $1.6 billion. If we manage to replace that it will be a huge achievement,” said the minister.

Items such as disposable syringes, cannulas and vials for blood tests were not manufactured in Pakistan before. Now the Ministry of Science and Technology is setting up factories for this, Chaudhry said.

This will also improve the country’s economic condition, said the minister, adding that technology exports bring in a lot of money. He also announced that Pakistan would start making electric buses. “On Friday we signed a MoU with Chinese company Skywell for electric buses.”

On Sunday, the ministry signed another MoU with a German company. This will be the second electric bus company to invest in Pakistan.

According the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the exports of engineering goods increased by 19.31 per cent, engineering goods valuing $47,845 thousand exported as compared to worth $40,103 thousand of same period of last year.

Electric fans worth $7,365 thousand were also exported in current financial year as compared to the exports of valuing $6,741 thousand of same period of last year.

During the period under review, Transport Equipment exports of the country also recorded positive growth of 19.94 per cent.

Transport equipment worth $2,322 thousand was exported as compared to the exports of $1,936 thousand of same period of last year.

The exports of cement from the country witnessed an increase of 8.27 per cent during the first quarter of financial year (2020-21) as compare to the corresponding period of last fiscal year.

The country exported cement worth $72.296 million during July-September (2020-21) as against the exports of $66.773 million during July-September (2019-20), showing growth of 8.27 per cent, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, the exports of cement increased by 30.09 per cent by going up from 2,196,835 metric tonnes to 1,688,687 metric tonnes, according to the data.

On year-to-year basis, the exports of cement grew by 23.85 per cent during the month of September 2020 as compared to the same month of last year.

The exports of cement from the country during September 2020 were recorded at $27.788 million against the exports of $24.623 million in September 2019.

On month-on-month basis, the exports of cement also rose by 28.75 per cent during September 2020 as compared to the exports of $21.583 million in August 2020, the PBS data revealed.

The overall merchandize trade deficit increased by 2.02 per cent during the first quarter of current fiscal year (2020-21) as compared to the deficit of the corresponding period of last year.

The deficit during July-September was recorded at $5.804 billion as compared to the deficit of $5.689 billion, showing increase 2.02 per cent.

During the period under review, the country’s exports registered negative growth of 0.94 per cent, by going down from $5.510 billion last year to $5.458 billion during the current year.

On the other hand, the imports decreased by 0.56 per cent, from $11.199 billion last year to $11.262 billion during the current year.

The import of mobile phones into the country has witnessed an increase of 83.17 per cent during the first quarter of financial year 2020-21 as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $492.894 million during July-September (2020-21) as compared to the imports of $269.087 million during July-September (2019-20), showing growth of 83.17 per cent, according to the latest data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Separately, with a mission of ensuring that every Pakistani has access to best-in-class 4G services, Zong 4G on Friday announced that the company has expanded its network footprint in Sindh and Balochistan.

News Network International