The tea imports witnessed an increase of 11.64pc during the first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The tea imports during July-February (2021-22) were recorded at $423.466 million against the imports of $379.314 million during July-February (2020-21), according to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In terms of quantity, the tea imports increased by 3.62pc during the period under review as these went up from 171,469 metric tons last year to 177,671 metric tons during the current fiscal year, the data revealed. The overall food imports increased by 20.24pc from $5,344.809 million last year to $6,426.614 million during the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the tea imports increased by 59.56pc during the month of February 2022 as compared to the same month of last year. The tea imports during February 2022 were recorded at $68.886 million against the imports of $43.172 million in February 2021. On month-on-month basis, the tea imports went up by 27.63pc in February 2022 as compared to the imports of $53.975 million in January 2022, the data revealed. It is pertinent to mention here that overall merchandize imports during the first eight months of the current fiscal year went up by 55.08pc to US $ 52.506 billion against the imports of US $ 33.858 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.