ISLAMABAD   -  Tea imports into the country witnessed an increase of 5.53 percent during the first half of current fiscal year as com­pared to the last year’s corresponding period, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The tea imports into the country in­creased up to $336.423 million during July-December (2023-24) compared to the imports of $318.798 million in July-De­cember (2022-23), according to PBS data.

In terms of quantity, the imports surged by 9.12 percent as the country imported 139,751 metric tonnes tea during the pe­riod under review as compared to the im­ports of 128,068 metric tonnes.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the tea imports during December 2023 de­creased by 16.80 percent to $58.869 mil­lion from last December’s $70.759 million.

The imports of the commodity however witnessed an increase of 9.81 percent in December 2023 when compared to the imports of $53.608 million in November 2023, according to PBS data.

The overall food group imports into the country during the first half of the current fiscal year witnessed a decrease of 19.48 percent. The food imports during July-December (2023-24) were recorded at $3,957.188 billion as against the imports of $4,914.278 billion during last year.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s overall merchandize trade deficit contracted by 34.29 percent dur­ing the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The trade deficit from July-December (2023-24) was recorded at $11.148 billion as against the deficit of $16.965 billion in July–December (2022-23), showing nega­tive growth of 34.29 per cent.

During the period under review, the ex­ports increased by 5.17 percent to $14.981 billion compared to the exports of $14.244 billion during the corresponding period of last year, according to the latest PBS data.

On the other hand, the imports nar­rowed by 16.28 per cent and were re­corded at $26.129 billion compared to $31.209 billion last year.