Owing to rising prices and unseasoned rainfall in India, the traders in Amritsar said that export of tomatoes to Pakistan has gone down by 50 per cent.
“Tomato prices, due to unseasonal rainfall, are high in India this year. This is the peak season for Tomato exports into Pakistan but this year due to high prices in India, the exports are down by almost 50 per cent,” said the president of Amritsar Exporters Chamber of Commerce, Rajdeep Utpal. Recently, there were demands generated by some associations in India urging Government to impose ban on Attari-Wagah-based traders to stop sending tomatoes to Pakistan. However, the traders claimed that they were only executing the pending orders and no fresh deal has been made.
“The orders which are being exported to neighbouring border are the old orders, which are being completed. In tomato trade, tomatoes come from Nashik, Maharashtra, which will take four to five days to come to Amritsar and it takes a day more to reach Pakistan. So these are the previous orders. The new orders are put on hold as the tomato prices in India are high. In another two to three days, the old orders will be finished,” said a trader, Manav Taneja.
About 40-50 trucks laden with tomatoes are crossing over to Pakistan via Attari-Wagah land route every day in the wake of poor crop output in Pakistan. Besides tomatoes, India also exports other vegetables, including green chilly and garlic, to Pakistan via Integrated Check Post at Attari in Amritsar. After onions, now the prices of tomatoes have shot up across India, leaving the common man in distress. According to wholesalers, the prices of tomatoes have risen by at least 35 to 40 per cent due to the non-arrival of fresh stock in the festive season.