KARACHI, Dec 11 Fruits and vegetable exporters have demanded compensation from the commerce ministry for the losses caused due to non-clearance of consignments by the law enforcing agencies at the Chaman border, which resulted in damage of the perishable items.

All Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Importers and Exporters Association put the damage to the tune of Rs100 million based on the details of consignment collected from its member exporters.

Abdul Wahid, former chairman of the association, told Dawn on Friday that 300 trucks were detained at the Chaman border without any genuine reason as shipments destined for Afghanistan and Central Asian states were accompanied with valid export documents.

The association in a letter to the commerce secretary and the chairman Trade Development Authority of Pakistan asked them to compensate exporters for the losses and ensure that no such incidents would take place in future.

Kinno export

Meanwhile, the export of kinno has taken a good start and consignments for Russia, Ukraine and Far East are on the way by sea.

The kinno exporters were optimistic of achieving the 200,000 tons target for this season amid reports of a bumper crop with high quality citrus.

However, they said much would depend on sales to Iran, which accounts for 33 per cent of total exports, but Tehran is yet to issue import permits for kinno. They hoped that Iran would issue import permits in January which would lift the exports.

In February, Iran would reduce the import duty from 45 per cent to five per cent to facilitate kinno availability on the eve of Nauroze (New Year).

Khalid Ijaz, a kinno exporter, deplored that shipping companies had increased charges on container handling taking advantage of the shortage of containers and imposed a new charge of Rs600 for lifting empty 20ft container. Besides, these shipping companies had also increased insurance and BL (bill of lading) charges.

Exporters said that demand of kinno in Russia and Ukraine was picking up, but in Europe it was slowing due to recession.

They further said that fruit shipments to the Middle East were also subdued due to the Dubai crash and return of pilgrims and heavy rains in Saudi Arabia.

The advent of new season would witness export of kinno for the first time to China and some African countries.