ISLAMABAD: The country’s food import bill soared to $3.847 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal year, marking an increase of 28.33 per cent from $2.998bn in the same period last year.

The rising arrivals reflect growing reliance on imported food commodities amid domestic production and supply challenges. The increase was primarily driven by higher imports of sugar, edible oil, and tea to bridge domestic shortages.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, palm oil constituted the largest share among imported food items, followed by pulses, tea, soyabean oil and sugar.

Pakistan imported 308,142 tonnes of sugar during July-November FY26, indicating an unprecedented year-on-year increase of 18,921.14pc compared to just 1,620 tonnes in the same period last year.

In terms of value, sugar imports rose sharply to $174.220 million, up from $1.627m in 5MFY25 — a jump of 10,608.04pc, acc­or­ding to official trade data. Retail sugar prices have been fluctuating between Rs180 and Rs230 per kg in various cities, prompting authorities to step in and ease supply constraints through imports.

The value of palm oil imports surged to $1.677bn 5MFY26, up from $1.259bn, reflecting a growth of 331.7pc. In terms of quantity, import of palm oil reached to 1.567m tonnes in 5MFY26 from 1.320m tonnes in the corresponding months of last year, an increase of 18.74pc.

However, import of pulses declined 20.58pc to $322.799m during 5MFY26 from $406.438m in the same period last year. Soyabean oil im­p­orts value reached $68.842m, dipped 6.52pc from $73.647m recorded in the same period last year. The import bill for all other food items rose 41.45pc to $1.107bn in the 5MFY26 from $784.524m. The imports of tea dipped 1.14pc, with its value dropping to $261.492m from $264.518m.

The import of milk, cream and milk food for infants grew 6.90pc to $57.917m.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2025