Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) announced that exports of fresh fruits to India and Pakistan has increased comparing to last year.
Mohammad Yunus Momand, the deputy to the ACCI, said that in the last six months of the past solar year, the export level was 480 million U.S. dollars, but the figure increased to 750 million U.S. dollars at the first six months of the current year.
“If the fresh fruit exports continue the same, the number may increase several times in the next few months,” according to Momand,
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s fresh fruit exporters have said that there has been a 50% decrease in the export of melons and grapes compared to last year.
They said that according to the farmers’ needs, the price of melons and grapes is low and that lack of a market is one of the major problems for selling these products.
Meanwhile, earlier the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce announced a 50% increase in the country’s exports and said that it is looking for the increase of exports to the Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) figures show that the country’s exports have increased by 50 percent compared to last year, and in the first three months, Afghanistan has exported goods worth 400 million dollars to various countries, including India and Pakistan.
Yunus Momand said that 19,000 tons of fruits and more than one million tons of coal were exported last year.
On the other side, the Ministry of commerce and Industry of the Islamic Emirate announced that it was making effort to increase exports to Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
Earlier, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment said that Afghanistan’s exports through air corridors have decreased significantly.
Khanjan Alokozai, a member of the director’s board of ACCI, said that currently, there is no transmission through the airport, if it is, it is insignificant.
On the other side, Customs Department of the Kabul Airport figures shows that in the last seven months, five thousand tons of domestic products, especially pine nuts, have been exported.
In the meantime, Indian media reported that the country’s businessmen are forced to pay money through the banks of the Persian Gulf countries to import dry goods from Afghanistan.
Afghan economic experts call India the traditional market for Afghanistan’s agricultural exports and say that India is the main market for Afghanistan’s fresh and dry fruits.
An economic expert, Isa Rezayee, believes that due to the competition between India and Pakistan, if Afghanistan’s government does not establish a balance between the two countries, Afghanistan’s exports to India may decrease.
Economic professor, Mohammad Ali Mashal, said that considering India’s population, every country is trying to access the Indian market, adding that India’s participation in a major economic project such as TAPI can help Afghanistan in its relations with India.
India has provided new facilities to Afghan businessmen while the government of Pakistan has allowed the shipment of wheat donated by India to Afghanistan through its soil.
Three years ago, despite repeated requests from India and Afghanistan, Pakistan refused to send wheat from its soil, and after that, wheat from India was transferred to Afghanistan through Chabahar port.
Shukria Kohistani
Fresh fruits’ exports to India, Pakistan increased, official
