Fruits smuggling to Iran Pakistan losing $40m annually

Pakistan is losing $40 million annually owing to smuggling of fruit to Iran, said market sources.

"The illegal trade has also drastically reduced the legal trade of fruits with Tehran," said CEO Harvest Tradings Ahmad Jawad.

Sources said that Iran has also serious concerns over the export of unhygienic fruits through land routes. The illegal trade was not only affecting the overall exports to the neighbouring country, but also causing huge losses to the government and those doing legal export business.

Jawad said that every year Pakistani exporters waited for duty waiver on kinnow to export good quality product through sea, but due to unchecked trade via land with Tehran, the export of kinnow has declined from 2,000 containers to only 200 containers during the last few years.

The country had been earlier exporting about 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes of kinnow annually to Iran, around 40 percent of its total kinnow export.

Iranian government has expressed its concern that stale fruit is being supplied to its markets via land route of Balochistan. It wants Pakistan to transport sensitive commodities in refrigerated trucks.

Transportation of fresh commodities is often made to Iran in open trucks and does not meet the quality requirements. This has led to the neighbouring country rejecting consignments several times and sending a request to the Pakistani government to follow global standards.

Jawad emphasized that in the current circumstances exporters were uneasy about the future of their exports as the neighboring country was regarded as a valuable market because of prompt payment. "Any punitive action taken by the Iranian government in this regard would be a severe blow to them. There is no objection over the export of fruits through land routes but it should be through proper procedure meeting all quality requirements," he said.

He urged Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company to get established a proper banking channel between the two countries to enhance trade, especially in horticulture sector.

Source: THE NEWS INTERNATIONAL