Taliban taking over Afghanistan has impacted many including Indian and Indian traders. Taliban have stopped all trade with India. Indian traders face huge losses within the import-export business. Import-export business courses can assist you in affecting your trade business. Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has impacted the bilateral trade between the two countries. Earlier, in 2019-2020 the bilateral trade reached $1.5 billion and in 2020-2021 the trade reached $1.4 billion. Exports from India were $826 million. Currently, many shipments are stuck and large payments are due which can cause heavy losses to the traders.
The Bilateral Trade
- India is one of the most important trade partners of Afghanistan. We depend on Afghanistan for dry fruits like walnuts, pistachios, raisins, almonds, figs, pine nuts, dried apricots, and fresh fruits.
- India imports around 85% of dry fruits from Afghanistan.
- Whereas Afghanistan was importing pepper, tea, coffee, garments, sugar, medical equipment and hardware materials from India.
Goods imported from Afghanistan are now doubled and tripled because of the product shortage and the arrival of the festive season. This has affected the domestic market and hence affected a standard man’s pocket. As we all know, the demand for dry fruits in Indian festivals increases. India exported 8% of its sugar production to Afghanistan in the previous year. By purchasing 6,24,000 tonnes of sugar Afghanistan became the second-biggest buyer of India. Imagine the loss traders are getting to be facing with this uncertainty, which can take months or years to recover. Even if the trade starts now Indians are going to be still in loss as many of the Afghans have left the country. The demand for the products exported from India will eventually drop. Talking about the imports, India imports about 60% of Asafoetida from Afghanistan. Not getting the imports affects the domestic traders and domestic trade. As Indian foods are incomplete without spices. With the halt in trade between the two countries, traders may have to seek out an alternative soon for both the export and import of products. Traders have already faced huge losses in just 1-2 months.
Factors affecting Indian Traders after the Afghanistan Crisis-
1 The uncertain political scenario- This uncertainty for an extended time is affecting the traders of India. The political scenario of Afghanistan is still known and with that, no one knows the upcoming trade laws of the country. 2 Payment due of exporters- Due to sudden uncertainty many shipments are stuck and large payments are due which can cause heavy losses to the traders. 3 Decreasing economy of the country- Within just one month Afghanistan’s economy has dropped which will become a problem for Indian traders in the future also. With the bilateral trade shutting down, the Indian government and the Taliban are yet to settle for a trade agreement. India has featured a trade relationship with Afghans for the past 20 years Over the last 5 years, India’s exports have risen by 63%. In this crisis Pakistan has also played its game and denied India trade access with Afghanistan. India export items are shipped from Karachi port and then again loaded within the trucks to deliver to Afghanistan. Now Indian Traders may soon need to find a third country for the trade. Until the Indian government and Afghanistan trade start, traders need to find different countries to export and import the needed products. Hopefully Taliban’s understand the importance of trade and economic development through trade and shortly share an honest trade relationship with India like before. Want to know more about Export import business, can visit the link below: https://digitalexim.com/blog/ Visit us to know A to Z of the Exim Industry.
