ISLAMABAD: The tea imports into the country witnessed a decrease of 1.12pc during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (FY19) as compared to the corresponding period of FY18.
According to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the tea imports into the country during July-February FY19 were recorded at $393.585 million as compared to the imports of $398.041 million in July-February FY18.
In terms of quantity, the tea imports, however, increased by 16.15pc during the period under review, as it went up from 130,062 metric tonnes last year to 151,071 metric tonnes during the current fiscal year.
The overall food imports into the country during the period under review witnessed a decrease of 8.25pc. The food imports during the first eight months of the current fiscal year were recorded at $3,868.606 million against the imports of $4,216.516 million, the data revealed.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the tea imports into the country decreased by 20.28pc in February 2019 when compared to the imports during the same month of last year.
The tea imports into the country during February 2019 were recorded at $46.279 million against the imports of $58.049 million in February 2018.
In terms of quantity, the tea imports into the country also decreased from 19,915 metric tonnes in February 2018 to 19,055 metric tonnes, showing a decline of 4.32pc, the data revealed.
Meanwhile, on a month-on-month basis, the tea imports into the country increased by 1.51pc in February 2019 as compared to the imports of $45.589 million in January 2019.
In terms of quantity, the tea imports witnessed an increase of 1.8pc in February 2018 when compared to the imports of 18,718 metric tonnes in January 2019, according to the PBS data.
It is pertinent to mention that the country’s merchandise trade deficit plunged by 11.03pc during July-February FY19, as the deficit contracted by over $2.668 billion to $21.523 billion during the first eight months against the deficit of $24.191 billion the previous year.
The exports during the period under review witnessed an increase of 1.85pc to $15.113 billion from $14.838 billion, whereas the imports declined by 6.13pc to $36.636 billion from $39.029 billion recorded during the eight months of current fiscal year, the data revealed.
