Tea imports up 2.15pc to US $ 347.305mn in 7 months

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan imported tea worth $347.305 million during the first seven months of the current fiscal year, showing growth of 2.15 percent when compared to the imports of $339.992 million during the corresponding period of last year.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Pakistan imported 132,748 metric tons of tea during July-January (2018-19) against the imports of $339,992 metric tons during July-January (2017-18), showing increase of 20.52 percent in terms of quantity, the PBS data revealed.

The overall food imports into the country declined by 8.29 percent during the period under review. The total food imports into the country during the first seven months of current year were recorded at $3464.490 million against the imports of $3777.472 million during the corresponding period of last fiscal year.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the tea imports witnessed negative growth of 3.03 percent

in January 2019 when compared to the imports of last year. The tea imports during January 2019 were recorded

at $45.589 million against the imports of $56.343 million in January 2018.

On month-on-month basis, the  tea imports decreased by 9.07 percent during January 2019 when compared to the imports of $51.303 million during December 2018, according to the data.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country's merchandize trade deficit plunged by 9.66 percent during July-January (2018-19) as the deficit contracted by over $2 billion to $19.264 billion in the period under review against the deficit of $21.324 billion recorded during same period of the previous year.

The exports during the period of current fiscal year also witnessed an increase of 2.24 percent

to $13.231 billion from $12.941 billion during last year while the imports declined by 5.17 percent to $32.495 billion from $34.265 billion during first seven months of current fiscal year, PBS reported.

On the other hand, the  services trade deficit shrank by 29.11 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The services trade deficit during July-December (2018-19) was recorded at $1.945 billion against the deficit of $2.744 billion during July-December (2017-18), showing decline of 29.11 percent, official data revealed.