The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has said that during the first half of this fiscal year, tea imports in the country increased by 5.53% as compared to the last year.

According to official data, during the current financial year from July to December (2023-24), tea imports in the country increased by 5.53 percent to $336.423 million, compared to $318.798 million in the same period last financial year 2023-23.

In terms of volume, the imports increased by 9.12% to 139,751 metric tons in the current financial year as against 128,068 metric tons last year, the report said.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, tea imports during December 2023 decreased by 16.80% to $58.869 million from $70.759 million last December, while imports of the commodity in December 2023 increased by 9.81% as compared to November’s $53.608 million.

According to the PBS data, during the first half of the current financial year, the overall food group imports in the country recorded a decrease of 19.48%. During July-December (2023-24), the food imports were $3,957.188 billion, which were $4,914.278 billion during the last year.

According to the report, it is worth mentioning here that the overall trade deficit of the country has decreased by 34.29% during the first half of the current financial year compared to the same period of the previous year.

After the decline, it was recorded at $11.148 billion, which was $16.965 billion in July-December (2022-23).

The latest PBS data also revealed that exports during the period under review increased by 5.17% to $14.981 billion as against $14.244 billion during the same period last year.

According to the report, imports, on the other hand, decreased by 16.28% and recorded $26.129 billion compared to $31.209 billion last year.