October 23, 2001	Tuesday	Shaba'an 5, 1422

KARACHI, Oct 22: In a spate of negative developments crippling exports after Sept 11, the latest is the Anthrax threat which has led to detention of Pakistani goods by US Food and Drug Agency (FDA), exporters complained here on Monday.

Many US importers have informed their Pakistani exporters that shipments of all category of goods coming from Pakistan have been held back by the authorities apparently for examination.

The US Customs has directed that all shipments originating from Pakistan, regardless of the port destination, will have to come to New York first for examination.

Soon after the Sept 11 incident, the Pakistani exporters had to face large scale cancellation of orders from the buyers of western countries, followed by imposition of ‘war risk charges’ by underwriters, mostly based in London as well as increase in freight and insurance charges.

The US authorities are not only detaining food items such as rice but are also holding back all category of goods including garments, the exporters were informed by their buyers.

However, total confusion prevails as some US importers say that the authorities did not come out with any definite reason for taking these measures. Exporters, therefore, presume that the steps are being taken in the wake of detection of Anthrax cases.

In similar messages received by a number of members of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Prgmea), the US buyers complain that even after customs clearance, the goods are being detained by the US authorities.

The US importers told some of the Prgmea members that the US Customs and other enforcement agencies have yet to inform them (US importers) as what they plan to do about these shipments.

In many cases, the US customs have stopped notifying the importers and clearing agents about their inspection schedule for shipments, a US importer lamented in one of such messages received here by Pakistani exporters.

The chairman Pregmea (central) Masood Naqi also released the contents of such a letter received by him from the US importer.

The letter stated that in a particular case, the US customs issued a release order after inspecting shipment but later decided not to allow the container to leave the port until the contents were thoroughly checked.

Masood Naqi has drawn the attention of Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood towards the US customs behaviour which is likely to further hit Pakistan’s trade with the US. He requested to the minister to take up the matter urgently with the US government to get stuck up Pakistani shipments cleared by the US customs.

He said that delay in clearance of Pakistani consignments by US Customs would chase away US buyers who would stop placing orders, which are already on decline.

The chairman, Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), Abdul Rahim Janoo, told Dawn that according to his sources a large quantity of Pakistani rice had been detained at US ports, and had not been cleared by the authorities.

In the past only 20 to 30 per cent of a rice consignment from Pakistan was subjected to checking but now the entire shipment is being detained for checking by the US authorities, which also delays export proceeds received by exporters.