ISLAMABAD: The consumption of imported tea increased by 26.72 per cent as Pakistanis consume tea worth US $233.632 million during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year.

The consumption of imported tea was recorded at US $184.365 million during the same period of last year (July-November 2019-20), according to the latest figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, the tea imports into the country increased by 36 percent during the period under review as these grew from 78,771 metric tons to 107,252 metric tons, the data revealed.

The overall food imports into the country increased by 44.53 percent from US $ 2088.960 million last year to US $ 3019.072 million during the current fiscal year.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the tea imports into the country increased by 5.98 percent during the month of November 2020 as compared to the same month of last year.

The tea imports during November 2020 were recorded at US $ 44.293 million against the imports of US $ 41.794 million.

However, on month-on-month basis, the tea imports into the country decreased by 6.51 percent in November 2020 when compared to the imports of US $ 47.377 million in October 2020, the data revealed.