By Moaaz Manzoor

Pakistan’s monthly trade deficit widened sharply to $4.679 billion in June 2026 as imports surged above $6.9 billion while exports dropped to $2.25 billion.

According to provisional external trade figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, imports rose 27.08% from May, while exports declined 16.25% during the same period.

A comparison of the reported figures shows that the June deficit was about $1.914 billion, or 69%, wider than the estimated $2.765 billion gap recorded in May, when imports stood at $5.454 billion and exports at $2.689 billion.

The June deficit surged 62% year on year from $2.882 billion, driven by accelerating imports and weakening export earnings.

In rupee terms, the trade deficit reached Rs1.305 trillion in June, with imports amounting to Rs1.932 trillion against exports of Rs626.686 billion. Imports increased 26.24% month-on-month and 27.41% year-on-year, while exports fell 16.36% from May and 10.61% from June 2025.

The June deterioration capped a difficult fiscal year for external trade. During July–June FY2025-26, exports declined 5.93% to $30.139 billion from $32.040 billion a year earlier.

Imports, meanwhile, increased 8.14% to $69.761 billion from $64.507 billion. Consequently, the full-year trade deficit reached $39.622 billion, compared with an estimated $32.467 billion in the preceding year, representing an increase of about $7.155 billion, or 22%.

The monthly export decline was concentrated in several major textile categories. Knitwear exports fell 18.43% from May and 21.31% from June 2025, while readymade garments declined 23.95% month-on-month and 13.88% year-on-year.

Bedwear exports dropped 26.60% from May and 24.55% from a year earlier. Towel exports recorded the steepest monthly decline among the listed products, falling 36.84%, while made-up articles excluding towels and bedwear decreased 27.38%.

Cotton cloth exports also declined 23.21% month-on-month and 10.11% year-on-year. Despite these decreases, knitwear remained Pakistan’s largest listed export item in June at Rs101.348 billion, followed by readymade garments at Rs87.768 billion and bedwear at Rs58.361 billion.

Some non-textile and agricultural exports showed improvement. Basmati rice exports rose 5.24% from May and 81.22% year-on-year, while other rice exports increased 9.67% and 20.70%, respectively. Petroleum-product exports grew 30.56% month-on-month and 81.58% year-on-year.

On the import side, petroleum crude was the largest listed item at Rs230.079 billion, followed by petroleum products at Rs215.780 billion.

Petroleum-product imports increased 52.35% from May and 49.53% from June 2025, while crude-oil imports rose 17.66% month-on-month and 74.87% year-on-year.

Raw-cotton imports jumped 68.66% from May, while liquefied natural gas imports increased 55.14%. Iron and steel imports rose 62.08%, and imports of completely and semi-knocked-down motor cars increased 27.07%.

The figures indicate that the June trade deterioration resulted from pressures on both sides of the account: export earnings weakened substantially, particularly in key textile categories, while energy, industrial-input and automobile imports rose sharply.

Credit: INP-WealthPk