Putting a dead stop to the trade between India and Afghanistan, Taliban has stopped all imports and exports from the subcontinent.
The total value of trade between India and Afghanistan currently stands at over $1.5 billion, where exports from India stand at over $900 million. India's outbound shipments to Afghanistan include tea, coffee, pepper sugar and cotton.
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Export Organisation (FIEO) has said that currently the Taliban has stopped the movement of cargo through the transit routes of Pakistan, thereby stopping imports from the country. This has led to a surge in dry fruit prices in the local markets in India. Afghan exports to India include dried raisin, walnut, almond, fig, pine nut, pistachios, dried apricot and fresh fruits such as apricot, cherry, watermelon, and medicinal herbs.
India and Afghanistan signed a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) in March 2003 under which India allowed substantial duty concessions, ranging from 50% to 100%, to certain category of Afghan dry fruits. Afghanistan, in turn, has allowed reciprocal concessions to Indian products including tea, sugar, cement and pharmaceuticals
An Air-Freight Corridor connecting India and Afghanistan was established in June 2017 to overcome the lack of safe passage via Pakistan, which also stands abandoned due to the closure of the airspace by the Taliban.
Federation of India Export Organisation expressed concern that in coming days dry fruit prices may go up due to the turmoil in Afghanistan. India is importing around 85 per cent of dry fruits from Afghanistan.
The prices of Afghan almonds, figs, apricots and raisins have increased by ₹200 per kilogram, while that of pistachio has increased by ₹250 per kilogram.