KCCI wants govt to allow import of raw cotton from India

KARACHI: Businessmen and industrialists on Thursday asked the government to immediately import raw cotton, food items and other essentials from India via the Wagah border to mitigate a food security crisis and curtail heavy logistics costs.

Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala and President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Muhammad Idrees appealed the government to immediately allow imports of raw cotton, vegetables, fruits, grains and other essentials through Wagah as Pakistan faced severe shortages. They said there was a shortage of all these products because of the devastation caused by flashfloods, which completely washed away all the agricultural crops.

In a statement, Motiwala pointed out that in addition to the losses of up to billions of rupees, damage inflicted by the floods on agricultural crops and land had triggered a food crisis. Crops were completely damaged, while land remained inundated to date, he added.

The businessman said opening the Wagah border was inevitable now because of the destruction of raw cotton, dates, chilies, cauliflower, onions, and other fruits and vegetable crops in Sindh and Balochistan.

He said that opening the Wagah border would “allow imports of agricultural crops from India so that our country’s food needs and also the industry’s agricultural input requirements” could be met immediately. From Wagah, it would be possible “within the shortest possible time at competitive rates”, Motiwala added.

He stressed that the government has to act promptly and sensibly in this regard to avert a food crises as according to estimates, 65 percent of Pakistan’s main food crops including 80 percent of its wheat and rice have been completely swept away during floods, and more than 3 million livestock have also died.

He reminded that importing from India would reduce the time and logistics cost both. This he said would also be better for the country’s balance of payments situation compared to importing from countries that were farther and had heavier logistics costs.

Recovering from the heavy agricultural losses would take several months, the BMG chairman said, warning that if raw cotton imports from India were not allowed in a timely manner, textile exports would fall. “Reduced textile exports would worsen the situation for the already ailing and overburdened economy,” he added.

President KCCI Muhammad Idrees said that Pakistan relied heavily on local agricultural products, but now it was obvious that wheat, rice, raw cotton, grains and vegetables etc have to be imported.

He reasoned that “it was better to import from India which produces plenty of these agricultural products and also the livestock”.

He said prices of vegetables and other commodities have risen sharply in the local markets, pushing making these commodities unaffordable and beyond the reach of the poor segment of the society.

To stabilise prices, and avoid hunger and starvation among masses, he said the government should immediately allow the import of agricultural goods from India.