Tea imports decline by 8pc in first half

ISLAMABAD: The tea imports into the country decreased by 7.99 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

In terms of US dollars, the tea imports into the country were recorded at $257.584 million during July-December (2016-17) against the imports of $279.953 million during July-December (2015-16), according to official data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

However, in terms of quantity, the tea imports into the country witnessed increase of 17.91 percent during the period under review by going up from 91,090 metric tons to 107,406 metric tons.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis the tea imports into the country decreased by 9.83 percent during December 2016 compared to the same month of last year.

The tea imports into the country were recorded at $48.986 million during December 2016 compared to the imports of $54.328 million in December 2015.

On month-on-month basis, the tea imports, however, increased by 35.88 percent during December 2016 when compared to the imports of $36.052 million in November 2016, the data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall food group imports into the country during the period under review witnessed increase of 9.04 percent by going up from $2,626 million last year to $2,864 million this year.

Country's over all imports during the first half of the current fiscal year increased by 10.11 percent by going up from $22.162 billion to $24.402 billion.

On the other hand the exports from the country witnessed negative growth of 3.82 percent during the period by going down from $10.306 billion to $9.912 billion.