Pakistan's food exports plunged by 29.49% to USD5.017 billion in fiscal year 2025-26 from USD7.116 billion a year earlier, while imports moved sharply in the opposite direction, rising by 11.66% to USD9.150 billion, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. The contrasting movements left Pakistan buying substantially more food commodities from abroad than it earned from overseas shipments during the financial year ended June 30, 2026. Food imports increased by USD955 million from USD8.195 billion in FY2024-25. Export earnings, meanwhile, declined by about USD2.1 billion from the previous year's level. Rice remained the largest food export category in the figures provided. Pakistan shipped more than 4.282 million metric tons of rice during FY26, earning USD2.291 billion. The commodity alone accounted for a substantial share of total food export receipts of just over USD5 billion. Meat and meat preparations generated USD530.245 million from shipments of about 114,046 metric tons. Although the quantity was almost unchanged from the previous fiscal year, earnings improved. Pakistan had exported 114,157 metric tons of meat and meat preparations worth USD495.109 million in FY2024-25. That meant meat export receipts increased even as volumes slipped marginally. Fish and fish products were another significant source of foreign earnings. Pakistan exported 215,170 metric tons worth USD482.017 million during the fiscal year. Fruit exports amounted to 533,382 metric tons and generated USD308.130 million. Vegetable shipments were larger by volume, reaching 594,104 metric tons, but produced lower earnings of USD162.770 million. Oilseeds and nuts contributed USD260.519 million to food-related export receipts from shipments of about 243,019 metric tons. Tobacco exports totalled approximately 46,669 metric tons and brought in USD142.527 million. Taken together, the figures show a diversified range of agricultural and food shipments, but their combined performance was insufficient to prevent a steep contractio n in the overall export category. The most consequential figure is the 29.49% annual decline in total food exports. Receipts fell from USD7.116 billion to USD5.017 billion, a reduction of nearly three-tenths in a single fiscal year. At the same time, Pakistan's expenditure on imported food commodities moved higher rather than lower. The import bill climbed from USD8.195 billion in FY25 to USD9.150 billion in FY26, an increase of 11.66%. The divergence between the two sides of the trade account is stark. Based on the reported totals, the difference between food imports and exports widened to more than USD4 billion in FY26. The data supplied do not provide comparative year-earlier figures for every individual export category, making it impossible to attribute the entire decline to particular commodities from these figures alone. They do, however, show that rice remained the dominant item among the listed exports, followed in value by meat and meat preparations, fish and fish products, fruit, oilseeds and nut s, vegetables and tobacco. Meat stands out among the categories for which a direct annual comparison is available. Its export earnings rose to USD530.245 million from USD495.109 million even though the quantity shipped was fractionally lower. That improvement was not enough to alter the broader direction of Pakistan's food trade. FY26 therefore ended with two adverse movements occurring simultaneously: export earnings from food commodities fell by 29.49%, while the amount spent on food imports increased by 11.66%. For Pakistan's food trade, the arithmetic is consequently less reassuring than the USD5.017 billion export headline suggests. The country continued to earn billions of dollars from rice, meat, fish and other agricultural products, but those receipts fell sharply just as its food import bill climbed above USD9 billion.