India helps tame tomato prices in Pakistan
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
NEW DELHI, Oct 29 (PTI): While tomato prices continue to pinch Indian consumers' pockets, the exports from the country have helped reduce rates of the commodity by more than half in neighbouring Pakistan in the last ten days.
According to traders, hundreds of truckloads of tomato consignments are being sent to Pakistan since October 1 through Wagah border.
According to Pakistani media reports, tomato prices in Lahore had shot up to (INR) Rs.91 per kg on October 17. But Indian imports have brought them down to Rs.35-40 per kg.
"I have sent some consignments to Pakistan through an exporter. But most of the tomatoes, 90-95 per cent, were sent by traders of Amritsar who got the benefits because of their proximity to border," a Delhi-based tomato trader said without revealing the quantity he sold to the neighbouring state.
The demand for tomatoes in Pakistan has declined and exporters have reduced the number of consignments, he added.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal flagged off the first load of tomatoes to Pakistan on October 1 at Attari check post, which contained 600 boxes of the commodity worth Rs.0.2 million exported by Narain Eximp of Amritsar. There are also some consignment of tomatoes being exported to Pakistan through railways, another trader said.
According to traders, hundreds of truckloads of tomato consignments are being sent to Pakistan since October 1 through Wagah border.
According to Pakistani media reports, tomato prices in Lahore had shot up to (INR) Rs.91 per kg on October 17. But Indian imports have brought them down to Rs.35-40 per kg.
"I have sent some consignments to Pakistan through an exporter. But most of the tomatoes, 90-95 per cent, were sent by traders of Amritsar who got the benefits because of their proximity to border," a Delhi-based tomato trader said without revealing the quantity he sold to the neighbouring state.
The demand for tomatoes in Pakistan has declined and exporters have reduced the number of consignments, he added.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal flagged off the first load of tomatoes to Pakistan on October 1 at Attari check post, which contained 600 boxes of the commodity worth Rs.0.2 million exported by Narain Eximp of Amritsar. There are also some consignment of tomatoes being exported to Pakistan through railways, another trader said.