Hundreds of mills affected in Pak as Afghan reduces flour import

An increase in flour imports from central Asian countries to Afghanistan has led to the closure of hundreds of factories in Pakistan.

Officials of the joint Afghanistan-Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, however, announced that Afghanistan has started to import the majority of its flour from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan which led to a 60 percent reduction in flour imports from Pakistan, reports Tolo News.

"The quality of our own flour is also good now, mills are working in Mazar and Pul-e-Khumri and people are satisfied with Kazakh flour," said an Afghan shopkeeper.

"Pakistani flour is not coming these days as people prefer Kazakh flour," said another shopkeeper said.

"We have not inked a formal agreement with Pakistan about food stuffs and flour imports. Businessmen import flour according to needs in the market," said Ahmadullah Afghan, head of Afghanistan-Pakistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

Better wheat crops in Afghanistan and the activation of several factories inside the country, combined with the rise in imports of flour from central Asian countries, have decreased Afghanistan's dependency to Pakistani flour.

However, earlier reports said the export of flour from Pakistan to Afghanistan was suspended temporarily after authorities in Kabul country increased custom duty on the commodity.

The reports further added that flour exporters and dealers in Peshawar stopped export of the commodity to Afghanistan as they were asked to deposit additional amount as custom duty by the Afghan authorities at Torkham border.