Protests suspend kinnow exports

KARACHI: Kinnow exports were suspended due to a sit-in (dharna) on roads in Karachi, interior Sindh, and Punjab, traders said on Friday.

More than 400 containers with kinnow are standing on the roads in Sindh and Punjab.

Exporters would sustain huge losses if containers did not reach the ports, said Waheed Ahmed, patron-in-chief of Pakistan Fruits and Vegetables’ Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association.

kinnow worth $4.6 million were being transported in these 400 containers and the reefer containers needed connection with electricity otherwise the fruits would be rotted.

Exporters were already facing problems, as they were paying four times higher freight rates amid a shortage of reefer containers and ships, he added.

Ahmed suggested the federal government resolve the issue with the protesters and free up the roads.

The target of 350,000 tons export would be difficult to achieve amid these conditions, as the next orders would be cancelled, he said.

The traffic on several roads remained disrupted due to the protest of the Shia community against murders of Hazara workers in Quetta.