Food exports jump 64pc in six months

The agriculture and food exports jumped by 64 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal year, helping the country to narrow down its trade deficit. The official data showed the country’s total agriculture and food exports reached $3.847 billion during July-December 2023-24 against $2.345bn in the same period last year, an increase of $1.502bn in absolute terms. The overall merchandise exports grew 5.17pc to $14.98bn in 1HFY24 while the import fell 16.28pc to $26.13bn from $31.21bn in the corresponding period last year. Visibly the country depends more on agri-food to achieve a higher growth in the overall exports. It also helped reduce the trade deficit by 34.3pc to $11.14bn in the first half. The data also shows that agri-foods could not fetch significantly higher prices compared to the growth in quantity. The biggest earnings came from the export of rice which almost doubled during the first six months. The country exported rice worth $1.64bn during 1HFY24 against $841m in the same period last year, an increase of 96pc. The rice exports may surpass the $3bn mark during the current fiscal year.