Indonesia has enjoyed free access to the Pakistan market for many items, including palm oil, for the past six years and part of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) signed by two countries recently, We expect the same unhindered market access for kinnow export, said Harvest Tradings CEO Ahmad Jawad. However, he said, as of last month, Indonesian importers were being issued with monthly quotas to control volumes of Pakistani kinnow shipments that could be brought into the country which was not accepted at all. Pakistani fresh produce industry also concerns over the barring of entry of our products to the Port of Jakarta. The closure of the port to fresh produce shipments was hotly debated last year when it was announced that all exports would have to enter via other ports. Negotiations have since taken place and this port was opened again to Australia and US oranges, but not for Pakistan. This means that all Pakistani produce exports to the country must instead go via Surabaya City, Indonesia from where it was shipped over land at an additional cost of $2500; said Jawad. On the other hand issue regarding General Rate Increase (GRI) $ 1500 on perishable shipments from the shipping lines was not solved in our country. Shipping experts mentioned that there was no plausible reason for an increase as there was neither any congestion at the Karachi Port and Port Qasim nor there was any choking of containers.
