ISLAMABAD, Sep 20(ABC): The tea imports witnessed a decrease of 10.86 percent during the first two months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding month of last year.
The tea imports during July-August (2022-23) were recorded at $91.914 million against the imports of $103.116 million during July-August (2021-22), according to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
In terms of quantity, the tea imports decreased by 22.17 percent during the period under review as these went down from 47,170 metric tons last year to 36,714 metric tons during the same months of current fiscal year, the data revealed.
On year-on-year (YoY) basis, the tea imports declined by 24.84 percent in August 2022 when compared to the imports of the same month of last year. During August 2022, the country imported tea worth $46.593 million as against the exports of $61.989 million last August.
On month-on-month (MoM) basis, the tea imports however increased by 2.81 percent when compared to the imports of $45.321 million in July 2022.
In terms of quantity, the tea imports into the country during August 2022 were recorded at 18,581 metric tons compared to the imports of 18,133 metric tons in July 2022 and 28,545 metric tons in August 2021, showing growth of 2.47 percent over July 2022 and decline of 34.91 percent over August 2021.
The overall food imports into the country increased by 21.04 percent during the first two months of the current fiscal year and were recorded at $1,783.465 million against $1,473.456 million in July-August (2021-22).
It is pertinent to mention here that overall merchandize imports into the country decreased by 9.25 percent during the first two months of the current fiscal year by going down from $12.152 billion last year to $11.028 billion in July-August (2022-23).
Exports from the country witnessed an increase of 3.75 percent and were recorded at $4.759 billion against the exports of $4.587 billion last year.
Based on the data, the trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $6.269 billion, showing a decrease of 17.13 percent over the deficit of $7.565 billion recorded during last year, the PBS data revealed.
