ISLAMABAD: As one of the largest tea-drinking nations in the world, it should come as no surprise that Pakistan imported over 150,000 million tons of tea in the fiscal year 2014-15.

In fact, this year, the country is well on its way to surpassing that number, having already imported over 90,000 milliion tons of it in the first six months of FY2015-16 alone.

According to a written response, submitted to the National Assembly by the commerce ministry last week, Pakistan imports tea – in varying amounts – from at least 38 different countries, with Kenya, India, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania comprising the top five.

Of the total amount of tea imported in 2014-15, around 65pc or 98,000 million tons came from Kenya alone.

Pakistan has also imported tea from exotic locations, such as Kiribati, St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, and the British Virgin Islands, to name a few.

However, tea-giant China ranks 12th on the list, and in 2014-15, only 988 million tons of tea were imported from there. The amount of imports from Turkey, another leading producer of teas, is almost negligible.

This list of countries is also varied because of the various types of tea that are indigenous to different parts of the world. For example, Zimbabwe, which exported 87 million tons of tea to Pakistan in 2014-15, specialises primarily in black tea, which is a staple around the country.

However, South Africa, which specialises in herbal and fruit teas, sent only about 14 million tons of its produce to Pakistan in the same year.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2016