President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Younus Muhammad Bashir has urged the Director General & Advisor, Department of Plant Protection, Government of Pakistan , Sahabzada Imran Shami to direct the authorities concerned to immediately clear hundreds of pulses containers held up at the Ports in Karachi in order to prevent further losses to importers and shortage of foodstuff in the grain markets.
In a letter, he draws his attention towards the issues pertaining to delays in clearance of pulses' containers as we have been informed that many containers carrying pulses at the Ports in Karachi are being sent for examination, which is not only causing heavy demurrage and detention losses to the importers but is likely to cause severe shortage of pulses in the local markets.
He said that the KCCI members have been frequently importing large quantities of pulses without any problem but they have been facing serious issues nowadays in clearance of cargo due to extensive examination of containers. It is a well-known fact that examination of so many containers is practically impossible due to port congestions and limited time period because of Ramazan. The standard procedure is to conduct random examination by drawing the samples and sending them for laboratory testing but it was not being followed.
He also recommends that pulses which are being frequently imported from a specific country should be examined once and clearance be given for a precise period to all future consignments being imported from that particular country as being done in case of canola oil, garlic and ginger imports from China. He said that if this recommendation, if considered, would surely help in easing the cumbersome clearance process and provide relief to concerned traders.