Vegetables stuck at port

The shortage of dollars has started to hit the market forces and may soon create enormous problems for the people of the country who are already under tremendous economic duress. It is reported that commodity importers face acute problems in opening letters of credit for import of produce resulting in the merchandise being held up at the port. In this context 417 containers worth more than $5.4 million — 250 of onions worth $2.1m, 63 of ginger valuing $0.8m and 104 of garlic amounting to $2.5m — are currently held up on various terminals of the Karachi Port. The reason for the holdup is said to be the refusal by commercial banks to release documents because of the shortage of foreign exchange. The inordinate delay in the clearance of Vegetables stuck at port will result drastically increasing their costs due to terminal and shipping charges and the consumers will be forced to pay higher prices. It must be kept in view that these vegetable constitute the necessary part of everyday consumer diet without which regular meals cannot be cooked. One essential difficulty with such produce is that it is perishable in content and that too in short span of time making it all the more important to get it released. TW

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