Pakistan’s pharmaceutical exports hit three-year low of USD319m in FY26

Business Recorder reported that medicine exports fell to their lowest level in three years, at USD319.01 million in FY26, which closed on June 30, 2026. The Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) put the fall at 30 percent year on year. The association attributed the drop mainly to a halt in sales of domestically produced medicines to Afghanistan after the border was closed.

Medicine exports had risen 34 percent to USD457.45 million in FY25, the fastest growth in two decades. Former PPMA chairman Tauqeer Ul Haq said Afghanistan had accounted for 42 percent of those exports, with the land route shut since October 2025. He also blamed higher oil prices linked to the US-Iran conflict for raising transport costs and making some low-margin markets unviable.

Haq urged the government to engage Afghan authorities so exports could resume and medicine supplies could continue during border closures. He also proposed a committee with commerce ministry, TDAP and industry representatives to speed up drug registration and factory inspections abroad. Separately, he asked the State Bank of Pakistan to raise the foreign currency retention for drug makers from 15 percent to 35 percent of export earnings.