ISLAMABAD   -  The exports of tobacco witnessed an in­crease of 32.09 per cent during the first eight months of the financial year 2023-24, as against the exports of the corre­sponding months of last year.

The tobacco exports from the country were recorded at $60.581 million dur­ing July-February (2023-24) against the exports of $45.863 million during July-February (2022-23), according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In terms of quantity, the exports of tobacco also surged by 3.80 per cent going up from 16,742 metric tons to 17,378 met­ric tons, according to the data.

Meanwhile, year-on-year basis, the ex­port of tobacco however decreased by 50.62 per cent during the month of Febru­ary 2024 as compared to the same month of last year. The exports of tobacco from the country during February 2024 were recorded at $4.132 million against the ex­ports of $8.368 million in February 2023.

On a month-on-month basis, exports of tobacco also dipped by 64.17 per cent during February 2024 when compared to the exports of $11.531 million in Janu­ary 2024, the PBS data revealed.

It is worth mentioning here that the exports from the country witnessed an increase of 8.93 percent during the first 9 months of the current fiscal year (2023-24) compared to the correspond­ing period of last year, PBS reported.

The exports from the country in­creased up to $22.914 billion during July-March (2023-24) as against the ex­ports of $21.036 billion in July-March (2022-23), showing a growth of 8.93 percent. On the other hand, imports into the country declined by 8.65 percent to $39.944 billion this year against the im­ports of $43.724 billion last year.