He said that all the stakeholders of export trade are facing huge financial losses and now compel to stop operation aimed to reducing losses. Although, transporters are on strike from the last few days, the federal and provincial governments' authorities are not handling the matter properly, he added.
"The country's overall and particularly rice exports are already facing many challenges in the world market and declining sharply, while now the transport strike is further damaging the exports", he added. In the current situation, when mills are processing rice but failed to dispatch the commodity due to transports' strike, rice millers and exporters have decided to shut down their mills aimed to minimise losses, the chairman REAP said. Rice exporters have no other option except to go on strike and close their rice mills till the problem resolved, he added.
He has appealed Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, ministry of commerce and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah to intervene in the matter and resolve the issue on top priority basis as all import and export trade activities are halted because of goods transporters' strike. Rafique Suleman former chairman REAP said that all traders respect the court's decision, but there should some way out to resolve the issue.
He said that as the imported goods are not being released from ports due to strike, the both ports Karachi Port and Port Qasim will be completely packed in next two days making the import and export impossible due to congestion. He said holy month of Ramazan is also approaching fast and this is the time to supply commodities in different parts of the country. Markets may face shortage, if immediately supply will not be restored, he added. In addition, the delay in exports consignments may also resulted in cancellation of export orders mainly as buyers could not bear the late supply, Rafique said.
He said that while the Prime Minister and federal ministers are making efforts to enhance the exports to earn more foreign exchange for the country, the strike is directly hurting these efforts. Former chairman said that there is need to devise a proper policy for the movement of heavy transport in the city to end the issue that is directly hurting the country's economy. On the occasion, Anwar Mian Noor former chairman REAP, Safdar Mehkari and other leading exporters were also present.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017