An ongoing liquidity crunch took its toll on fruits and vegetables as hundreds of containers carrying perishable food items remained stuck at Karachi port owing to "non-availability of foreign exchange as per commercial banks".
The development was shared by the All Pakistan Fruit & Vegetable Exporters, Importers & Merchants Association (PFVA) on Tuesday, which warned that prices of vegetables are expected to hike owing to clearance delays.
According to Business Recorder, the trade association informed the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday in a letter that 417 containers carrying vegetables i.e. onion, ginger and garlic worth approximately $5.5 million or Rs1.23 billion were stuck at various terminals of Karachi sea port owing to non-availability of foreign exchange as per statement of commercial banks.
“We should like to submit that the containers of onion are still held up at the various terminals of Karachi seaport since the commercial banks are not releasing the documents due to non-availability of foreign exchange as per the statement of the banks," read the letter dated December 6, 2022.
Around 250 containers of onion approximately worth $2.1 million, 63 containers of ginger approximately worth $816,480 and 104 containers of garlic approximately worth $2.533 million have been stuck at the port, informed the association.