Pakistan Imports by Product, July to September 2026: Oil $3.32 Billion, Palm Oil $978 Million (PBS Full List)

Pakistan imported $19.21 billion of goods from July to September 2026, 13.2% more than a year earlier, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Oil was the biggest bill: crude oil and petroleum products together cost $3.32 billion, followed by electrical machinery at $1.13 billion and palm oil at $978 million.

We downloaded the PBS import sheet for September 2026, which lists more than 45 products for the first quarter of the 2026-27 fiscal year. Below is what Pakistan buys from abroad, ranked, with each product's change from the same months of 2025. We also mark the imports that end up in your kitchen, your fuel tank and your pocket.

Pakistan's top 20 imports from July to September 2026

Petroleum, machinery and chemicals made up the largest share of Pakistan's $19.21 billion import bill in the quarter. Crude oil alone was $1.76 billion, up 23.1%. Electrical machinery jumped 45.7%, the fastest rise among the big items.

We left out the catch-all lines PBS uses for goods it does not name, such as "other chemicals" at $1.45 billion and "all other food items" at $856 million, because they are not single products. The monthly totals for the year are in Pakistan's trade deficit for every month of 2026.

Fuel imports cost $4.02 billion, a fifth of the bill

The petroleum group, which covers crude oil, petrol, diesel, LNG and LPG, cost $4.02 billion from July to September 2026. That is 6.5% more than a year earlier and about 21% of all imports. LNG fell 41.6% while crude oil and LPG rose by more than a fifth.

All figures are for July to September of each year. Fuel is the import most families feel directly, through petrol and cooking gas prices. The way world oil prices pass into the pump price is set out in the 2026 oil forecast and Pakistan's petrol bill.

Imports you can trace to your own spending

Several of the top imports end up in ordinary household budgets. When their import cost rises, shop prices usually follow, after taxes and margins are added. Here is where each one shows up.

1. Palm oil, $977.8 million: much of the cooking oil and ghee sold in Pakistan is made from it. The import bill fell 2.3%.
2. Tea, $186.3 million: up 25.5%. Pakistan grows very little tea of its own.
3. Pulses, $179.7 million: daal imports fell 12.1%.
4. Mobile phones, $417.2 million: down 16.6%. Locally assembled phones also rely on imported parts.
5. Car kits, $763.9 million: up 22.2%, which suggests local assemblers built more cars and bikes.
6. Medicines, $278.3 million: down 26.3%.

Soybean oil and sugar imports almost stopped. Soybean oil fell from $56.7 million to nearly nothing, and sugar from $19.0 million to $0.3 million. How prices of food staples moved last month is in Pakistan's October 2026 inflation.

Machinery imports rose 19.3%

The machinery group rose 19.3% to $3.12 billion. Electrical machinery jumped 45.7% to $1.13 billion, and computers and office machines rose 42.9% to $235 million. Construction and mining machinery more than doubled, to $95.3 million.

Machinery imports are often read as a sign that businesses are investing. But textile machinery fell 35.7% to $109.5 million, so the biggest export industry did not share in it. Iron and steel scrap, used by local mills, rose 42.5%.

• Rising fastest: electrical machinery, computers, iron and steel scrap, raw cotton, tea, car kits.
• Falling: LNG, textile machinery, medicines, mobile phones, pulses, fertiliser.

How to check import figures by product yourself

PBS posts a free import sheet by product every month, usually early in the next month. It needs no account. We read ours on the morning of 4 November.

• Open pbs.gov.pk and go to External Trade Statistics.
• Download the "Import" spreadsheet for the latest month, for example Import_September-2026.
• The first table covers the single month. Scroll down for the "July to" table, which covers the fiscal year so far.
• Values are in rupees million and US dollars thousand. Divide the dollar figure by 1,000 for millions.

Mobile phone imports for each month of 2026 are listed in Pakistan's mobile phone imports by month.

Common questions

What is Pakistan's biggest import in 2026?

Crude oil, at $1.76 billion from July to September 2026. Petroleum products came second at $1.56 billion.

How much palm oil does Pakistan import?

$977.8 million from July to September 2026, 2.3% less than in the same months of 2025.

How much did Pakistan spend on fuel imports in 2026?

$4.02 billion from July to September 2026 for the whole petroleum group, about 21% of all imports.

Did mobile phone imports fall in 2026?

Yes. They were $417.2 million from July to September 2026, down 16.6% on a year earlier.

Which imports grew fastest in 2026?

Among the big items, electrical machinery (up 45.7%), computers (42.9%) and iron and steel scrap (42.5%).

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked 4 November 2026 at about 06:00 PKT. We read the PBS external trade statistics page and downloaded the September 2026 import sheet, using its July to September table. The ranking, the shares and the rounding are our own. The sheet's notes say the data come from Pakistan Single Window and are validated by FBR. October 2026 figures were not yet posted when we checked.