With the Taliban seizing the control in Afghanistan, prices of dry fruits in the wholesale market of twin cities, Bhilai and Durg witnessed a surge, as imports from the bordering country has been disrupted. The price of dry fruit imported from Afghanistan has gone up by 30 to 50% within a fortnight, said local wholesalers. If traders associated with dry fruits business, are to be believed that the political turmoil in Afghanistan that has seen Taliban take over the country is likely to drive up prices of dry fruits sold in India ahead of the key festive season that sees demand for such commodities surge. The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has led to a steep price rise of dry fruit and other items imported from the country.

 

As per information, India imports dried raisin, walnut, almond, fig, pine nut, pistachios, dried apricot apart from fresh fruits such as pomegranate, apple, apricot, cherry, melon, watermelon, medicinal herbs (Asafoetida) and Saffron from the south Asian country including Afghanistan. But the recent takeover of the Afghan capital Kabul by Taliban has led to a suspension of trade relations between the two countries. “The rates of almonds have almost doubled in the last three weeks. Pistachio and raisin prices have also gone up by around 25-30%”, said Hanif Chowdhary, who runs dry fruits and spices wholesale store in Link Road, Jawahar market Bhilai . He added that it is very difficult to explain to customers the reason for the prices increasing up to Rs 250 per kilogram within last couple of weeks.

 

Another dry fruits trader, Lokesh Jain of Sector-6 A market said that the prices of Afghan almonds, figs, apricots and raisins have increased by Rs 200 per kilogram while that of pistachio have increased by Rs 200 per kilogram. Currently, the price of a 1 kg of almonds in city has gone up to Rs 1,100 from Rs 620, pistachio prices have gone up to Rs 1050/kg from Rs 850/kg, while the prices of munakka raisin have risen to Rs 950/kg from Rs 750/kg few weeks ago. “To avoid any trouble with the customers, I have revised the rate list according to the situation”, added the dry fruit wholesaler, Lokesh Jain. Earlier, the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) said the Taliban have stopped all imports and exports with India. Meanwhile, local traders expect supply shortages that will drive up prices. Dry fruit traders fear that delay in Afghanistan returning to normalcy may further bump up the prices of dry fruit in the coming days.