According to the provisional figures compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Imports into Pakistan during October 2021 amounted to $ 6,386 million (provisional) as compared to $ 6,563 million (provisional) in September 2021 showing a decrease of 2.70% but an increase by 64.16% as compared to $ 3,890 million in October 2020.
Imports during July – October, totalled $ 25,101 million (provisional) as against $ 15,176 million during the corresponding period of last year showing an increase of 65.40%.
Amongst the main commodities of imports during October 2021; imports of iron and steel (Semi-finished and finished steel products) had the 5th largest import share at $ 271 million, while imports of Iron & steel scrap had the 9th largest share in monthly import at $ 204 million.
Imports of semi-finished and finished iron and steel stood at 291,021 tonnes in October 2021, down 15.45% on the month, but rising 13.87% from the same period in the previous year. Import values in terms of USD have risen by 13.83% on month and a massive 80.05% on the year.
In terms of quantity iron and steel scrap imports stood at 347,888 tonnes in October 2021, although up 5.1% from September 2021, declining 15.40% year on year.
Import volumes have consistently declined over recent months, in terms of quantity imported of iron and steel scrap into Pakistan have plunged by -32.73% in 4MFY22 to 1.227 million tonnes from 1.824m tonnes in the same period last year.
A major blockade for scrap importers have been the rising costs of steel scrap in global markets, the situation has been further exacerbated by the steep decline in the rupee-dollar parity, with the currency having declined to historical lows this year.
When considering import values, the total import value of scrap rose by 9% to $704 million in the July-October period from $646m in the same period last year. Import values for iron and steel scrap in October stood at $204m rising 6.25% as compared to $192m in September, while rising 26.7% year on year from $161m in October 2020.
