Pakistan’s tea imports declined 10.86% to $91.9 million in the first two months of the ongoing fiscal year 2022-23 (2MFY23) from $103.116 million over the same period of the previous fiscal, according to the data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Quantity-wise, tea imports decreased 22.17% to 36,714 tonnes during the July-August period of FY23 from 47,170 tonnes over the same period of FY22, the PBS data showed. Year-on-year, tea imports declined by 24.84% to $46.593 million in August 2022 from $61.989 million in August 2021. However, month-on-month, tea imports increased 2.81% in August 2022 compared to July 2022. In terms of quantity, tea imports in August 2022 stood at 18,581 tonnes compared to imports of 18,133 tonnes in July 2022 and 28,545 tonnes in August 2021, showing a growth of 2.47% over July 2022 and a decline of 34.91% over August 2021.

Overall food imports increased 21.04% during the first two months of the current fiscal, standing at $1,78 billion compared to $1,47 billion in July-August 2021-22. Overall merchandise imports decreased by 9.25% during the first 2MFY23 to $11 billion from $12.1 billion over the same period last year. Exports witnessed an increase of 3.75% to $4.7 billion against exports of $4.5 billion last year. The trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $6.26 billion, showing a decrease of 17.13% over the deficit of $7.56 billion last year, the PBS data showed.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk