Review of automobile imports.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) imports into Pakistan during December 2019 worth to Rs. 625,463 million (provisional) as compared to Rs. 612,215 million (provisional) in November, 2019 and Rs. 609,596 million during December 2018 explaining a rise of 2.16 percent over November, 2019 and of 2.60 percent over December 2018. In terms of US dollars the imports in December 2019 was $ 4,037 million (provisional) as against to $ 3,940 million (provisional) in November, 2019 explaining a rise of 2.46 percent but declined by 8.35 percent as compared to $ 4,405 million in December 2018.

Statistics showed that imports during July - December 2019 totaled Rs. 3,635,558 million (provisional) as compared to Rs. 3,604,706 million during the same period of previous year explaining a rise of 0.86 percent. In terms of US dollars the imports during July-December 2019 totaled $ 23,229 million (provisional) as compared to $ 27,952 million during the same period of last year explaining a decline of 16.90 percent. Furthermore in the first 4-month of the present fiscal year, considering the imports of automobiles, the numbers have dropped considerably as against to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

The plunge in imports is about 54 percent, which is considerable. Considering imports in dollar value, the imports declined from $245,430 million to $ 108,350 million, a drop of $137,080 million while comparing the5-month (July-November) of the current fiscal year with the same 5-month of the same year. Such a fall in imports the industry experts revealed, has led to a fall in the trade deficit, which is good for the economy. However, this fall in imports has also unfavorably affected the businesses of car dealers and the transport sector of the country.

In Pakistan, the main automotive imports comprise of CBU/CKD cars, trucks and tractors. Parts and accessories and motorcycles also account for an important share of imports. As opposed to this, the base of exports is small and narrow. Japan is traditionally the largest supplier of the range of auto-parts products. Emerging sources are Turkey in tractors, Singapore and Thailand for cars and parts, South Korea in trucks and China in the case of motorcycles.

Pakistan has organized a small market 'niche' for motorcycles in two SAARC countries, Afghanistan and Bangladesh; tractors in African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya; and for auto-parts in USA...