The tea imports witnessed an increase of 2.21 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding month of last year.
The tea imports during July-October (2022-23) were recorded at $ 192.474 million against the imports of $188.304 million during July-October (2021-22), according to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In terms of quantity, the tea imports however decreased by 8.90 percent during the period under review as these went down from 84,590 metric tons last year to 77,065 metric tons during the same months of the current fiscal year, the data revealed. On year-on-year (YoY) basis, the tea imports surged by 54.09 percent in October 2022 when compared to the imports of the same month of last year. During October 2022, the country imported tea worth $ 57.272 million as against the exports of $ 37.169 million last August.
On month-on-month (MoM) basis, the tea imports however increased by 32.30 percent when compared to the imports of $ 43.290 million in September 2022. In terms of quantity, the tea imports into the country during October 2022 were recorded at 22,829 metric tons compared to the imports of 17,360 metric tons in September 2022 and 16,121 metric tons in October 2021, showing growth of 31.50 percent over September 2022 and 54.09 percent over October 2021.
The overall food imports into the country increased by 9.71 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year and were recorded at $3,431.022 million against $ 3,127.240 million in July-October (2021-22). It is pertinent to mention here that the overall merchandize imports into the country decreased by 16.21 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year going down from $25,084 million last year to $21,018 million during July-October (2022-23).
The exports during the period increased by 0.94 percent to $9,549 million as compared to the exports of $9,460 million during the corresponding period of last year. Based on the figures, the trade deficit was recorded at $11,469 million this year against the deficit of $15,624 million last year, showing a decline of 26.59 percent, according to the data. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) export remittances have risen by 13.33 percent to $221 million in October this year from $195 million reported for the same period last year. “ICT export remittances of US$ 854 million have been reported by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for the period July to October of FY2022-23, which is an increase of 2.89%. In comparison to US$ 830 million reported for the same period last year,” said a news release. The net ICT exports of $721 million have been reported by SBP which is an increase of 14.44 percent as compared to net exports of $630 million for the same period in FY2021-22.