Pakistan - Foreign trade

Pakistan has suffered a weak trade position since the early 1970s, as the cost of oil imports have risen while prices for the country's main exports have declined on the international market. Exports fell 2.5% and imports dropped 20% in 1998, but by 2000 they were back on the upswing, growing at 8.3% and 19%, respectively. Pakistan's commerce ministry estimates that up to $1.5 billion of unregistered trade occurs annually, mostly from smuggled imports.

The important commodity exports for Pakistan are cotton, textiles, and clothes. Other major exports include rice and leather. The following chart shows the top 10 exports:


Made-up textile articles 14.7
Textile yarn 12.9
Cotton fabrics 11.7
Woven manmade fiber fabric 11.1
Rice 5.8
Knitted undergarments 5.7
Headgear 5.1
Men's outerwear, not knit 4.5
Toys and sporting goods 2.3
Leather 2.2

In 2000 Pakistan's imports were distributed among the following categories:


Consumer goods 3.7%
Food 13.1%
Fuels 33.2%
Industrial supplies 30.3%
Machinery 13.9%
Transportation 5.3%
Other 0.5%

Smuggled goods (tea, soap, domestic appliances, batteries, tires, bicycles, and televisions) enter the country primarily from Afghanistan.

During the 1980s, the United Kingdom, traditionally Pakistan's most important trading partner, slipped behind the United States, Japan, and Germany. Principal trading partners in 2000 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:


United States 2,276 667 1,609
China (inc. Hong Kong) 788 550 238
United Kingdom 601 351 250
United Arab Emirates 574 1,191 -617
Germany 518 395 123
France 284 214 70
Korea 265 362 -97
Sa'udi Arabia 246 1,163 -917
Japan 238 618 -380
Kuwait n.a. 1,293 n.a.

User Contributions:

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Apr 28, 2013 @ 6:06 am
nicely written and explained. the trade is a important chapter and should be covered up everything we want to know about our country.
