Moaaz Manzoor

Pakistan’s external trade indicators showed a mixed performance in October 2025, with exports posting double-digit month-on-month growth but imports rising even faster, according to provisional data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Exports in October 2025 stood at Rs. 800,841 million (provisional), reflecting an increase of 13.79 percent from September’s Rs. 703,779 million. However, exports were slightly below the Rs. 828,052 million recorded in October 2024, marking a 3.29 percent year-on-year decline.

In dollar terms, exports amounted to $2,849 million, up 14.01 percent from September 2025 but down 4.46 percent from $2,982 million in October 2024. During July–October 2025, cumulative exports reached Rs. 2,950,407 million compared with Rs. 3,028,942 million in the same period last year, showing a decrease of 2.59 percent. Dollar-based exports totaled $10,447 million compared with $10,888 million previously, a decline of 4.05 percent.

Key export commodities during October 2025 included knitwear (Rs. 135,262 million), readymade garments (Rs. 104,249 million), bedwear (Rs. 81,814 million), petroleum products excluding top naphtha (Rs. 59,650 million), and cotton cloth (Rs. 40,347 million). Other notable items were rice (others) at Rs. 30,537 million, towels at Rs. 25,408 million, made-up articles excluding towels and bedwear at Rs. 19,100 million, cotton yarn at Rs. 15,876 million, and basmati rice at Rs. 15,195 million. PBS data showed significant variations across export categories.

Petroleum products excluding top naphtha surged by 507.44 percent over September 2025 and by 597.91 percent over October 2024. Rice (others) rose 71.42 percent month-on-month, while basmati rice grew 31.29 percent. However, cotton yarn fell 10.86 percent from September 2025, and cotton cloth declined 4.53 percent.

Year-on-year, rice (others) dropped 62.55 percent and basmati rice fell 20.29 percent. Imports in October 2025 were recorded at Rs. 1,726,145 million (provisional), showing an increase of 4.69 percent from Rs. 1,648,853 million in September 2025 and 23.33 percent from Rs. 1,399,579 million in October 2024. In dollar terms, October imports stood at $6,131 million, up 4.84 percent month-on-month and 21.65 percent year-on-year.

Cumulative imports for July–October 2025 reached Rs. 6,529,174 million compared with Rs. 5,569,160 million last year, an increase of 17.24 percent. Dollar-denominated imports rose to $23,105 million from $20,003 million, up 15.51 percent. Major imported items in October included petroleum crude (Rs. 152,957 million), petroleum products (Rs. 152,860 million), palm oil (Rs. 91,253 million), and iron and steel (Rs. 69,923 million).

These were followed by electrical machinery and apparatus (Rs. 69,572 million), plastic materials (Rs. 64,131 million), LNG (Rs. 58,820 million), iron and steel scrap (Rs. 54,502 million), motor cars (CKD/SKD) (Rs. 48,156 million), and mobile phones (Rs. 40,710 million). PBS reported the trade balance for October 2025 at Rs. -925,304 million and $-3,282 million. The cumulative trade balance for July–October 2025 stood at Rs. -3,578,767 million and $-12,658 million.

Credit: INP-WealthPk