Pakistan has seen a whopping increase in its export volumes that have been more than 80,000 tonnes with a revenue generation of $300 million for the first time in 2019-2020. Amidst the pandemic, Pakistan has the potential for its food export to increase.
This could also gauge problems as relying on a single item for export revenues might cause a shortage of it for domestic use which can put a spike on its local prices. It can transform into a vicious cycle of increasing the cost of production thus leading to inflation.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the price of beef has increased in folds since the past two years i.e. Rs 367/kg in 2018, Rs 412/kg in 2019, and Rs 451/kg in 2020. Similarly, the price of the mutton has also increased from Rs 773/kg in 2018, Rs 860/kg in 2019 to Rs 945/kg in 2020.
These prices are applicable to the mediocre quality of meat and don’t include high-quality meat. The rise in price is due to the substantial demand in the export sector and the need for the hour in such a situation is for policymakers is to control the demand of meat in the foreign market affecting its price range in the local market and then device policies accordingly.
