Detained pulses' containers at Karachi port could not be released on Saturday, as the talks between the government authorities and the exporters failed, exporters said. "The customs authorities detained the pulses' containers containing varieties of pulses in the wake of ban imposed on the pulses' export announced by the government, they said.
Exporters said the high government authorities had been contacted for the release of pulses, but so far no agreement could reach on this issue, however, they hoped that this issue would soon be resolved.
"We had booked export orders earlier than the imposition of ban and paid about Rs 20 million export duty to the government in advance, which means that the detained pulses and those on which the duty has been paid should be released in principle," they said.
The pulses detention issue was still at the earlier stage and the exporters were determined to resolve it, hence the ban on export of pulses was wrong, they said.
Principally, the detained pulses' containers for exports were duty-paid and the government's action on stopping their export would not only damage the country's image abroad, but the exporters would also suffer huge financial losses, they said. Chairman of Karachi Wholesalers Group Association (KWGA) Anis Majid said that talks were in progress between the exporters and the government authorities. He hoped that the government would at least release those stuck-up consignments on which the exporters had paid the duty of Rs 20 million in advance.
However, he said the government had not yet assured the exporters as to when it would release the detained consignments. To a question, Anis ruled out the possibility of increase in prices of the commodity due to export of pulses.
He said the local market would be unaffected despite export of pulses. He said the exporters had already purchased the pulses of different varieties, including gram (Chana), moong, masoor etc, and shortage-like situation in the local market would not occur in future.
"There was a big opportunity for Pakistan to export huge quantity of the pulses, as India had also put ban on export of this commodity, but the sudden imposition of ban hit the local exporters badly," he added.
Pulses export was being made to the Middle Eastern countries, the US and some other countries, he said, and added that the country was going to lose huge foreign exchange by putting ban. There should be a clear-cut government policy on exports so that the exporters could draw their future line of action to avoid financial losses and damage to their credibility, he added.
Pakistan was an agricultural country and the government should encourage the exports of commodities so that the exporters and farmers could earn sufficient amount for their crops in the face of increasing dearness, he remarked.