Imported tea consumption goes up 15.64pc in 3 quarters

ISLAMABAD: The consumption of imported tea witnessed an increase of 15.64 percent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The tea imports during July-March (2020-21) stood at $435.098 million against the imports of $376.244 million during July-March (2019-20), according to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, the tea imports increased by 25.48 percent during the period under review as these grew from 155,372 metric tons to 194,962 metric tons, the data revealed.

The overall food imports increased by 54.45 percent from $3963.258 million last year to $6121.359 million during the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the tea imports increased by 7.54 percent during the month of March 2021 as compared to the same month of last year. The tea imports during March 2021 were recorded at $55.784 million against the imports of $51.874 million in March 2020.

On month-on-month basis, the tea imports into the country increased by 29.21 percent in March 2021 when compared to the imports of $43.172 million in February 2021, the data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandize imports during the first three quarters increased by 13.57 percent by growing from $34.791 billion last year to $39.512 billion during current fiscal year.

On the other hand, the exports also increased by 7.12 percent, to $18.685 billion against the exports of $17.443 billion last year.

Based on the figures, the country’s trade deficit increased by 20.05 percent during the first three quarters as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The trade deficit during the period was recorded at $20.827 billion against the deficit of $17.348 billion last year, according to the PBS data.