ISLAMABAD Jan 8 : A high level meeting will be held at the Ministry of Commerce on Monday to consider export of onion to India through land route.
The meeting to be chaired by Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim will be attended by Provincial Ministers and Secretaries for food and agriculture.
Sources said the meeting will take stock of the availability of onion for local consumption and will only allow the export of surplus commodity. However they said it is expected that the agreements already reached for the export of onion would be honoured.
Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal has taken up the matter with Pakistani authorities, who have not yet conveyed a formal response to the request to resume exports, reports in the Indian media said quoting officials of the High Commission said.
India is making efforts to get Pakistani authorities to clear consignments that had already been contracted for, the officials said.
Customs officials and traders in Lahore, from where the consignments were being sent to India, too confirmed that the ban had not yet been lifted.
Pakistani authorities stopped onion exports via Wagah on Wednesday to control surging prices in markets across the country. Officials and some trade lobbies admitted that prices had risen since the exports to India began in mid-December.
Sources said concerns about the under-invoicing of onion consignments sent via the land route had influenced the decision to ban exports through Wagah.
Exports by sea are still allowed as the invoicing system for maritime consignments is less vulnerable to irregularities, sources said.
Prices of onions in India shot up by Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kg since Thursday after Pakistan curbed exports through the land route. Onion exports began late last year after prices registered a sharp rise in India.
The meeting to be chaired by Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim will be attended by Provincial Ministers and Secretaries for food and agriculture.
Sources said the meeting will take stock of the availability of onion for local consumption and will only allow the export of surplus commodity. However they said it is expected that the agreements already reached for the export of onion would be honoured.
Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal has taken up the matter with Pakistani authorities, who have not yet conveyed a formal response to the request to resume exports, reports in the Indian media said quoting officials of the High Commission said.
India is making efforts to get Pakistani authorities to clear consignments that had already been contracted for, the officials said.
Customs officials and traders in Lahore, from where the consignments were being sent to India, too confirmed that the ban had not yet been lifted.
Pakistani authorities stopped onion exports via Wagah on Wednesday to control surging prices in markets across the country. Officials and some trade lobbies admitted that prices had risen since the exports to India began in mid-December.
Sources said concerns about the under-invoicing of onion consignments sent via the land route had influenced the decision to ban exports through Wagah.
Exports by sea are still allowed as the invoicing system for maritime consignments is less vulnerable to irregularities, sources said.
Prices of onions in India shot up by Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kg since Thursday after Pakistan curbed exports through the land route. Onion exports began late last year after prices registered a sharp rise in India.
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