Pak-Australia Bilateral Trade
Pakistan-Australia bilateral trade in Calendar Year (CY) 2022 was USD 783 million. Though declining by 18.6% in CY 2022 vis-à-vis CY 2021, the bilateral trade has increased by 84% during the last three years, (compared with the pre-pandemic year i.e., CY 2019).
Notwithstanding the impressive growth in bilateral trade during the last three years, the potential for growth in bilateral trade is even higher. Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Australia in the CY 2022 was USD 783 million, which was 0.15% of Australian global trade of USD 691 billion and 0.77% of Pakistan’s global trade of USD 102 billion.
Since 2016, Pakistan-Australia bilateral trade flow has been uneven – ranging between USD 425 million to USD 962 million, mainly driven by oscillating import volumes of agricultural commodities by Pakistan. Before 2021, the highest level of bilateral trade i.e., USD 869 million was achieved in 2017, but it gradually declined to USD 425 million in 2019, before increasing to USD 508 million in 2020 and USD 962 million in 2021, but again decreased to USD 783 million in 2022.
Pak Exports to Australia
During the CY 2022 Pakistan’s exports to Australia were valued at USD 314 million, registering an increase of 4.2% over the previous year’s performance of USD 301 million. The export growth during the last 3 years (since 2019) was 51.4%. Pakistan’s top ten export products to Australia include textile made-ups USD 129 million, garments USD 73 million, cereals (mainly basmati rice) USD 20 million, iron and steel (mainly pipes) USD 17 million, leather goods (mainly gloves) USD 15 million, processed food (mainly spices) USD 15 million, textile fabrics USD 11 million, surgical instruments USD 9.5 million, sports goods USD 5.2 million, and misc. agro food products USD 3.5 million. The top-10 products constitute 95% of Pakistan’s exports to Australia. At the product group level, Textile Group constitutes 68.6% of exports, Agro-food Group 12.8%, Metals Group 6.1%, Leather Group 5.9%, and Surgical Instruments 3.0%.
During the last three years (from 2019 to 2022), Pakistan’s exports to Australia have increased by 51.4%. Almost all the top-10 export categories have registered increase ranging from 18.9% to 129.7%. In absolute terms the total export growth has been USD 107 million, from USD 207 million in 2019 to USD 314 in 2022. The largest contribution to growth in dollar terms came from textile made ups (USD 41 million), basmati rice (USD 29 million) and iron & steel (USD 9.4 million). There was no decrease in export of any of the top-10 products during the three-year period.
Export Trend of Top-10 Categories during the last 3 years
USD million
| HS Code | Product | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 vs. 2021 | 2022 vs. 2019 | ||||||||
| Absolute | % | Absolute | % | ||||||
| Total | 207.4 | 232.1 | 301.4 | 313.9 | 12.6 | 4.2 | 106.5 | 51.4 | |
| 63, 94 | Textile made-ups | 88.1 | 99.9 | 119.1 | 128.8 | 9.7 | 8.1 | 40.7 | 46.1 |
| 61, 62 | Garments | 43.7 | 44.9 | 67.3 | 72.7 | 5.4 | 8.0 | 29.0 | 66.3 |
| 10 | Cereals | 16.7 | 19.3 | 14.7 | 19.9 | 5.2 | 35.3 | 3.2 | 18.9 |
| 72, 73 | Iron & Steel | 7.2 | 10.2 | 28.1 | 16.6 | -11.5 | -41.0 | 9.4 | 129.7 |
| 41-43, 65-67 | Leather & products | 10.9 | 11.6 | 15.3 | 15.2 | -0.2 | -1.2 | 4.3 | 39.3 |
| 09, 16-24 | Processed food | 10.4 | 13.5 | 14.8 | 14.9 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 4.4 | 42.6 |
| 50-56, 58-60 | Fabrics | 6.6 | 8.8 | 10.3 | 11.4 | 1.1 | 10.5 | 4.8 | 71.8 |
| 90 | Surgi. instruments | 7.8 | 7.8 | 9.4 | 9.5 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 21.5 |
| 95 | Sports goods | 3.5 | 2.8 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 1.1 | 26.1 | 1.7 | 49.2 |
| 25, 12, 13, 14 | Misc. Agro Food | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 0.2 | 7.1 | 0.6 | 21.7 |
| All Others | 9.4 | 10.4 | 14.9 | 16.2 | 1.3 | 9.0 | 6.8 | 72.4 | |
Source: Ministry of Commerce
Pak Imports from Australia
Pakistan’s imports from Australia in the CY 2022 amounted to USD 469 million representing a decrease of 29% from the previous year’s performance of USD 661 million. The top-ten import products include pulses USD 213 million, raw cotton USD 62 million, forage seeds USD 53 million, iron & steel (scrap and flat-rolled) USD 24 million, barley USD 20 million, machinery USD 19 million, LNG & coal USD 18 million, unwrought zinc USD 17 million, dyes and pigments USD 10 million, and wood products (paper & paperboard) USD 8.8 million. The major product categories of import included food items USD 291 million, metals USD 46 million, machinery USD 19 million, agri & other chemicals USD 18 million, petroleum products (mainly coal and LNG) USD 18 million, and all other items USD 77 million.
Export Trend of Top-10 Categories during the last 3 years
USD million
| HS Code | Product | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 vs. 2021 | 2022 vs. 2019 | ||||||||
| Absolute | % | Absolute | % | ||||||
| Total | 217.6 | 276.4 | 660.6 | 468.8 | (191.8) | -29.0 | 251.3 | 116 | |
| 07 | Pulses | 48.3 | 86.8 | 255.3 | 212.8 | (42.5) | -16.6 | 164.5 | 341 |
| 52 | Cotton raw | 1.7 | 2.4 | 26.5 | 62.4 | 35.9 | 135.4 | 60.7 | 3560 |
| 12 | Forage seeds | 3.0 | 3.4 | 76.0 | 53.3 | (22.6) | -29.8 | 50.3 | 1678 |
| 72, 73 | Iron & Steel | 28.6 | 55.2 | 45.0 | 23.7 | (21.2) | -47.2 | (4.8) | -17 |
| 10 | Barley | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 20.1 | 19.2 | 1990 | 19.3 | 2525 |
| 84 to 92 | Machinery | 19.8 | 10.7 | 15.4 | 19.0 | 3.6 | 23.3 | (0.8) | -4 |
| 27 | LNG & Coal | 0.1 | 49.7 | 134.3 | 17.8 | (116.5) | -86.8 | 17.7 | 19614 |
| 79 | Zinc | 4.8 | 10.4 | 13.3 | 16.6 | 3.4 | 25.3 | 11.9 | 250 |
| 32 | Dyes & pigments | 4.8 | 3.8 | 9.4 | 10.4 | 1.0 | 10.5 | 5.6 | 118 |
| 44-49 | Wood products | 10.4 | 11.9 | 11.6 | 8.8 | (2.8) | -23.9 | (1.7) | -16 |
| Other Misc. | 95.4 | 41.7 | 73.1 | 23.9 | (49.1) | -67.3 | (71.5) | -75 | |
Source: Ministry of Commerce