Tea import bill decreases by 8.34 percent in 8 months

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s tea import bill continues to decline following the government’s decision to impose a flat minimum retail price (MRP) of Rs1,200 per kilogram.

Tea imports into the country witnessed a decrease of 8.34 percent during the eight months of the current fiscal year as compared to the last year’s corresponding period, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

The tea imports into the country decreased to Rs114.165 billion during July-Feb (2024-25) compared to the imports of Rs124.54 billion in July-Feb (2023-24), according to PBS data.

On a Month-on-Month basis, tea imports decreased by 9.75 percent. The tea imports in February 2024 were recorded at Rs12.73 and Rs14.10 billion during January 2024.

Meanwhile, Pakistan earned US $2.177 billion by exporting different Information Technology (IT) services in various countries during the first seven months of the current fiscal year 2024-25.

This shows a growth of 26.53 percent as compared with the US $ 1.720 billion earned through the provision of services during the corresponding months of the last fiscal year 2023-24, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

During the months under review, the computer services grew by 32.72 percent as it surged from US $1.397 billion last year to US $1.855 billion during July-January 2024-25.

Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed an increase of 35.51 percent, from US $476.017 million to US $645.036 million this year while the export of hardware consultancy services also witnessed an increase of 4.39 percent, from US $3.338 million to US $3.485 million.

The export and imports of computer software services decreased by 4.27 percent, from $359.618 million to $344.260 million whereas the exports of other computer services witnessed a growth of 54.52 percent from US $557.415 million to US $861.326 million.