ISLAMABAD/LAHORE – Pakistan decided on Monday to maintain the ban on the export of onion to India through the land route of Wahga, official sources said on Monday.
The Ministry of Commerce had convened a meeting of the stakeholders to consider the ban on onion exports, which was imposed on January 4. Vegetable traders stressed that they should be allowed to export 7,000 tonnes of onion for which deals had already been made and trucks were parked at the border.
However, the meeting decided that the matter was too sensitive and could only be decided by higher authorities. Their plea was not accepted as the Indian government had previously banned raw cotton exports and recently their traders stopped tomato exports to Pakistan. The ban on cotton exports increased woes of the textile sector as the country’s cotton output is expected to decline by 20 percent due to the recent floods.
Meanwhile, vegetable traders and exporters have asked the federal government to allow the export of onion to India through land route at Wagha Border.
Addressing a news conference at Lahore Press Club on Monday, the traders said the embargo on onion export through the land route was a discriminatory decision. If the government wanted to stop onion export, it should put a complete ban on it, even from other ports in the country.
Anjuman Arhtian Sabzi Mandi Lahore President Mian Ejaz said the sudden change in the onion export policy through the land route had put huge sum of vegetable traders’ money at stake. Around 300 trucks loaded with onion were stuck at Wahga. He said Federal Commerce Secretary Zafar Mehmood and Federal Food and Agriculture Secretary Junaid Iqbal had assured vegetable exporters in a recent meeting that the issue would be taken up with the prime minister, adding that he would be asked to allow the export of processed quantity of onions through the land route. However, he said, the government had maintained the embargo through the land route, which was unjustified.
Ejaz said the government should give some time to the vegetable exporters and traders before making any change in the onion export policy, adding that onion export from other ports in the country was allowed and large quantities were being exported to Colombo, Dubai, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mumbai and from Turkhaum to Kabul, Chaman to Kandahar and Zahidan to Iran.
To a question, he said the onion exported through Wahga Border did not increase prices in the local markets, which was evident from the fact that after the ban, the price of onion had only decreased by Rs 5.
