Daily Times

The consumption of imported tea witnessed a slight decrease of 0.55 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The tea imports during July-October (2021-22) stood at $188.307 million against the imports of $189.339 million during July-October (2020-21), according to data of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, the tea imports decreased by 2.77 percent during the period under review as these shrunk from 86,999 metric tons to 84,590 metric tons, the data revealed. The overall food imports increased by 36.99 percent from $2282.457 million last year to $3126.842 million during the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, tea imports decreased by 21.54 percent during the month of October 2021 as compared to the same month of last year. The tea imports during October 2021 were recorded at $37.171 million against the imports of $47.377 million in October 2020.

On a month-on-month basis, the tea imports declined by 22.59 percent in October 2021 as compared to the imports of $48.019 million in September 2021, the data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s total merchandise exports surged by 24.94 percent during the first four-month of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The exports during July-October (2021-22) were recorded at $9.462 billion against the exports of $7.573 billion during July-October (2020-21). On the other hand, the imports into the country also surged by 65.40 percent by growing from $15.176 billion last year to $25.101 billion during the current fiscal year, the PBS data added.