ISLAMABAD: The tea imports into the country witnessed a decline of 15.61 per cent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2019-20) as against the same period of last fiscal year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported on Sunday.
The tea imports into the country were recorded at $376.240 million during July-March (FY20) as against the import of $445.816 million in July-March (2018-19), according to latest PBS data.
In terms of quantity, the tea imports witnessed decline of 8.68pc during the period under review by going down from the import of 170.311 metric tonnes last year to 155.528 metric tonnes during the current year.
The imports of overall food commodities during the period under review declined by 7pc as those declined from $4,261.355 million last year to $3,963.258 million during the current year.
On year-on-year basis, the tea imports into the country decreased by 0.69pc during the month of March 2020 compared to the same month of last year.
The tea imports into the country in March 2020 were recorded at $51.872 million compared to the import of $52.231 million in March 2019.
On month-on-month basis, the food imports increased by 5.36pc in March 202 when compared to the import of $49.234 million in February 2019, the PBS data further revealed.
The country’s overall trade deficit witnessed a significant reduction in the first three quarters of the current financial year and declined by 26.45pc as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
During the period under review, the country’s exports registered about 2.23pc growth, whereas imports reduced by 14.42pc.
During the period from July-March (2019-20), the exports witnessed an increase of 2.23pc to reach at $17.451 billion against the export of $17.071 billion of the same period of last year.
The country’s imports witnessed a significant decrease of 14.42pc to go down from $40.679 billion in the first three quarters of last financial year to $34.814 billion in the same period of current financial year.
Based on the figures, the trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $17.363 against the deficit of $23.608 during last year, showing a decline of 26.45pc.
