Exports of Afghanistan’s Dried Fruit Decline: Ministry
Last Updated on February 17, 2025 6:09 am
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce said that the country’s dried fruit exports decreased in the first ten months of this solar year compared to the same period last year.
According to the ministry’s statistics, over 350 million dollars’ worth of dried fruit has been exported in the first ten months of this solar year, while this figure exceeded 388 million dollars last year.
Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, regarding the decrease in dried fruit exports, said: “In the first ten months of 1403, approximately 115 thousand tons of dried fruit, valued at more than 350 million dollars, were exported to countries including India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Uzbekistan, the United States, and others.”
Afghanistan has abundant agricultural and horticultural products and primarily exports dried figs, pistachios, almonds, pine nuts, raisins, dried apricots, and walnuts to global markets.
The Kabul Dried Fruit Exporters Union identifies banking challenges, difficulties in obtaining business visas, and Pakistan’s imposition of tariffs on Afghan goods as major obstacles to dried fruit exports.
The spokesperson for the Kabul Dried Fruit Exporters Union said: “The lack of visas is a significant issue. Unfortunately, over the past three years, India, which receives 70% of Afghanistan’s dried fruit exports, has not issued visas to our traders. This is one of the major problems, along with Pakistan’s 2% tax.”
Omid Haidari, a businessman, said: “We call on the Islamic Emirate to prioritize economic policies so that we can advance these policies. We expect our ambassadors in neighboring countries and our trade attachés to work towards finding good markets for Afghanistan’s agricultural products.”
Dried fruit exports, known for their high quality, remain one of Afghanistan’s key sources of foreign currency income.