Officials from the Fresh Fruits Exports Union said the export of fresh fruit to Pakistan has “decreased by almost 80 percent” after the Pakistani government raised tariffs on Afghan goods. 

Head of the union, Akhtar Mohammad, told TOLOnews that the export fresh fruit to Pakistan will stop if the tariffs on the Afghan products are not dropped.

“The raise in tariffs on Afghan fruits will mainly affect the farmers because they wait 12 months for growing their products and sending them to the market,” he said.

Musafir Qoqandi, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, said Pakistan has increased the tariffs to overcome the economic fall in that country.

He told TOLOnews that the ministry has sent a letter to Pakistan’s embassy in order to ask about the reason behind the rise of the tariffs on Afghan goods.

“We have sent an official letter to the (Pakistani) embassy in Kabul and we are waiting for the answer. As long as we have information from other sources, this decision of Islamabad is both for Afghanistan and other countries which have trade ties with Pakistan in order to overcome the fall of economic growth,” he said.

According to the ministry, dry and fresh fruit, carpet and semi-precious stones are among the Afghan goods which are exported to other parts of the world through Pakistan.