KARACHI: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has been urged to stop illegal barter of dry coconut between Azad Kashmir and Indian-Held valley through cross-LOC trade.
Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, in a letter, asked the minister to stop this practice to save the local industry.
Vohra said that some of KCCI member firms have complained about misuse of cross-LoC trade between Azad Jammu & Kashmir and the Indian Occupied Kashmir which has brought businesses of dry coconut importers on the verge of complete collapse.
Seeking Finance Minister’s intervention, the President KCCI pointed out that under the said cross-LoC trade, barter trade of goods being produced and manufactured in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and the Indian Occupied Kashmir only was allowed but nowadays, the terms and conditions of cross-LoC trade were grossly being violated as dry coconut, which was neither produced in Azad Kashmir nor in Indian Occupied Kashmir, was being bartered.
He said that coconut being cultivated in Kerala was initially being transited to Indian Occupied Kashmir and then bartered with Azad Kashmir which was a clear violation of Cross LoC Trade as dry coconut was not present in the formal barter trade list.
Coconut is grown in nearly 90 countries spread along the tropical belt. Total area under coconut is estimated at 11.1 million hectares and around 93 per cent, was found in the Asian and Pacific region. Indonesia and the Philippines, the world’s two biggest producers, have about 3.7 million hectares and 3.1 million hectares, respectively, while India comes third with 0.632 million hectares. The world’s total production of coconut was estimated at about 51.3 billion nuts or 9.8 million tons expressed in copra equivalent. From 2011 to 2013, coconut exports to Pakistan from India have doubled to nearly 21,000 tonne.
