Pak-India trade through Wagah rises to $31m from $20m

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: Trade with India through Wagha border substantially increased in the first seven months (July 2008 to January 2009) of the current fiscal year as Pakistan imported around $31 million worth of goods compared to last year’s $20 million.According to official figures available with The News, a quantum jump has been recorded in import of different items from India through Wagha border this fiscal year. During the whole last fiscal, Pakistan imported goods worth $48.51 million through the route.Pakistan is importing tomato, potato, onion, meat, garlic, cotton, maize and animals from Wagha land route but exports nothing to India through land due to non-tariff barriers imposed by Delhi.The data depicted Pakistan had imported about $6 million worth of tomato with quantity of 31,354 tonnes. Besides that, 322 tonnes of meat, 88,485 tonnes of potato, 6,997 tonnes of cotton and 1,745 tonnes of maize had been imported.Compared to those, during the last fiscal year tomato import totaled 110,038 tonnes, onion 12,651 tonnes, meat 4,570 tonnes, potato 1,243 tonnes, cotton 1,921 tonnes, maize 7,100 tonnes and 3,791 animals.No import of onion took place in December and January while last year traders had imported 12,651 tonnes of onion on in these two months due to scarcity and lower price offered by Indian traders. However, this year no major shortage of onion has occurred but it is expected that traders would import the commodity in the coming days following its shortage in the local market.Imran, an importer of vegetables from India, said trade in vegetables with Delhi was only seasonal. “Pakistani traders import some seasonal vegetables through India when these are scarce as they get good price during scarcity while in crop season import of vegetables through India is not a viable business,” he said.Currently, only tomato was a major item being imported from India. Import of potato had sharply come down and almost ended in February after the government imposed import duty in order to protect local farmers, he said.Meanwhile, porters and customs officials deputed at Wagha border said tensions with India after Mumbai attacks in Nov last year had no major impact on Wagha trade. “The Indians are wise enough and know that they are gaining from this route. That is why they have not imposed any restrictions on their exporters,” one commented.