Now, Pakistan declines tomato, ginger imports

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 22

After turning down onion consignments last month, Pakistan has now refused to accept truckloads of perishable items like tomato and ginger through the Attari-Wagah land route, attributing the same to some “quarantine issue”.

As a result of this, the Indian exporters are treading cautiously and have discontinued export of these items for the time being. Exporter Rajdeep Uppal confirmed the development stating that Pakistan had declined three truckloads of tomatoes a couple of days back. He said though the exports of perishable items were passing through a lean phase at the moment, they would have to find a way out soon as the exports were about to pick up in the coming days. He said the traders would soon hold a meeting to chalk out their future strategy in this regard.

He said 50 to 70 truckloads of tomatoes crossed over to Pakistan via Attari border during the peak season, though the number had come down drastically in the recent past due to bumper crop in Pakistan. Sources at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Attari said they were unaware of the exact reason behind the Pakistan move to decline tomato and ginger consignments, adding that they had also heard about some “quarantine” issues. They revealed that they were not receiving any tomato or ginger consignments from the Indian exporters now in view of the Pakistan move.

Earlier, in April, Pakistan had refused to accept four truckloads of onion being exported from India via Attari-Wagah land route apparently due to some plant quarantine issue. It was reported that the plant quarantine department in Pakistan didn’t issue import permit, stating it would be issued from Karachi and they had forwarded the case for the same. However, traders associated with onion exports to Pakistan had stated that it was quite strange as onion was exported to Pakistan over the last couple of years and the import permit was issued from Lahore not Karachi.