KABUL: Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said on Saturday Pakistan lost $3 billion USD in exports by closing Torkham crossing.
Officials at the ACCI said that at the moment Iranian, Turkish and Indian products are increasingly replacing Pakistani products on local markets.
“Pakistan has damaged years of work to secure access to Afghanistan markets and central Asia because Pakistan lost access to those markets due to the closure of Torkham crossing,” Alkozai said.
Meanwhile a number of Afghan businessmen and retailers said that by closing Torkham, prices of goods have risen sharply on local markets but also led to a boom in the sale of domestic products.
“At the moment products from Iran, Turkey and India substitute Pakistani products in the market and now there is more interest in domestic products,” said Zarin an Afghan retailer.
The head of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry Khanjan Alkozai said in the past importers brought in goods via Pakistan but are now starting to use air cargo routes through India.
“A few days ago a plane with Nestle products arrived in Afghanistan and another plane with milk for babies arrived,” Alkozai said.
