ISLAMABAD: The tea imports witnessed an increase of 11.64 percent 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 3.62 percent 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 20.24 percent 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 59.56 percent 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 27.63 percent 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 55.08 percent to US $ 52.506 billion against the imports of US $ 33.858 billion during the same period of last fiscal year.
The exports also witnessed an increase of 25.88 percent and were recorded at US $ 20.547 billion during July-February (2021-22) against the exports of $16.323 billion recorded during July-February (2020-21).
Based on the data, the trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at US $ 31.959 billion, showing an increase of 82.26 percent over the deficit of $17.535 billion recorded during July-February (2020-21), the PBS data revealed.
On year-on-year basis, the exports of the country increased by 35.78 percent during February 2022 as compared to the exports of same month of last year. The exports during February 2022 were recorded at US $ 2.808 billion against the exports of $2.068 billion in February 2020, the data revealed.
The imports into the country increased from US $ 4.601 billion in February 2021 to US $ 5.903 billion in February 2022, showing growth of 28.30 percent. – NNI