ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s tea imports witnessed an increase of 5.53% during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared to last year’s same period, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Wednesday.
The tea imports into the country went up to 336.423 million dollars during July-December (2023-24) compared to the imports of 318.798 million dollars in July-December (2022-23), according to PBS data.
In terms of quantity, the imports increased by 9.12% as the country imported 139,751 metric tonnes of tea during the period under review, in contrast to the imports of 128,068 metric tonnes.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the tea imports during December 2023 dropped by 16.80% to 58.869 million dollars from last December’s 70.759 million dollars.
The imports of the commodity, however, witnessed a surge of 9.81% in December 2023 when compared to the imports of 53.608 million dollars in November 2023, according to PBS data.
Pakistan’s Food Group Imports
Pakistan’s overall food group imports during the first half of the current fiscal year reported a decrease of 19.48%. The food imports during July-December (2023-24) were recorded at 3,957.188 billion dollars as against the imports of 4,914.278 billion dollars during last year.
Pakistan’s overall merchandise trade deficit dropped by 34.29% during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the same period last year.
The trade deficit from July to December (2023-24) was recorded at 11.148 billion dollars, against the deficit of 16.965 billion dollars in July to December (2022-23), showing a negative growth of 34.29%.
According to the latest PBS data, exports increased by 5.17% to 14.981 billion dollars during the period under review, compared to 14.244 billion dollars during the same period last year.
On the other hand, the imports dropped by 16.28% and were recorded at 26.129 billion dollars compared to 31.209 billion dollars last year.
