Tea imports into the country witnessed an increase of 5.53 percent during the first half of current fiscal year as compared to the last year’s corresponding period, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. The tea imports into the country increased up to $336.423 million during July-December (2023-24) compared to the imports of $318.798 million in July-December (2022-23), according to PBS data. In terms of quantity, the imports surged by 9.12 percent as the country imported 139,751 metric tonnes tea during the period under review as compared to the imports of 128,068 metric tonnes. Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the tea imports during December 2023 decreased by 16.80 percent to $58.869 million from last December’s $70.759 million. The imports of the commodity however witnessed an increase of 9.81 percent in December 2023 when compared to the imports of $53.608 million in November 2023, according to PBS data. The overall food group imports into the country during the first half of the current fiscal year witnessed a decrease of 19.48 percent. The food imports during July-December (2023-24) were recorded at $3,957.188 billion as against the imports of $4,914.278 billion during last year. It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s overall merchandize trade deficit contracted by 34.29 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year. The Trade deficit from July-December (2023-24) was recorded at $11.148 billion as against the deficit of $16.965 billion in July-December (2022-23), showing negative growth of 34.29 per cent. During the period under review, the exports increased by 5.17 percent to $14.981 billion compared to the exports of $14.244 billion during the corresponding period of last year, according to the latest PBS data. On the other hand, the imports narrowed by 16.28 per cent and were recorded at $26.129 billion compared to $31.209 billion last year.