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ADB report states 70% of Afghan transit trade diverted through Iran

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a recent report that although Afghanistan has traditionally relied on Pakistan as a gateway to international shipping routes, recent trends indicate that 70 percent of Afghan transit trade is now diverted through Iran.

The ADB’s Corridor Performance Measurement and Monitoring (CPMM) Annual Report 2019, published this week, stated that Pakistan is still facing challenges in terms of removing barriers for road transport. 

This shift away from Pakistan has been driven by lower costs from foreign ports and more attractive security deposit and detention tariffs for transit containers from shipping lines that operate at Iran's seaports.

The report stated that in addition, diesel fuel in Iran ($0.06 per liter) is significantly less expensive than in Pakistan ($0.86 per liter), which provides an additional edge in terms of cost competitiveness. 

Also, in the absence of a formal agreement with Pakistan, shippers and carriers face uncertainty in transit procedures, it added.

The report further stated that the CPMM trade facilitation indicator (TFIs) reported longer average border-crossing time, although relatively unchanged average border-crossing cost.

Total average transport cost showed an improvement, but both measures of speeds showed that trucks did not move as fast compared to 2018. The average border-crossing time between Afghanistan and Pakistan increased to 38.2 hours.

The time to cross Chaman was 60.1 hours, ranked as the most time-consuming border crossing point in 2019.

Peshawar took 45.8 hours and ranked the third most time-consuming, the report stated. 

These samples were estimated from commercial shipments carrying goods destined for Afghanistan as well as Central Asia.

Following the approval of its National Transport Policy in 2018, Pakistan embarked on a series of reforms and initiatives to address structural inefficiencies and impediments, to increase exports through lowering cost and lead time of transportation.

The report recommended the implementation of the national single-window system and port community system (PCS) to reduce cargo dwell time in seaports.

It said better parking area design and queuing systems could improve efficiency and speed up border crossing.

Pakistan does not yet have a domestic regulation on the international carriage of goods on road, which is a fundamental condition to implement the Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR).

The report also stated that greater adoption of freight on rail and inland waterways would reduce freight costs and boost low-unit value exports such as agricultural produce.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have however reactivated talks on the Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement 2010, which aims to attract transit from Central Asia to seaports south of Pakistan, the report stated.

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Iran’s non-oil exports to Afghanistan rise by 31% this solar year

Iran’s imports from Afghanistan also rose sharply, totalling over $33 million, a 192% increase in this period

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Iran's non-oil exports to Afghanistan surged by 31% in the first half of this solar year (April to September 2024), totalling over $1.77 billion.

According to Iran’s trade association in Afghanistan, both the value and volume of non-oil exports to Afghanistan saw substantial growth. 

Statistics provided by the association indicate that nearly 560,000 tons of Iranian goods, including iron, steel, cement, eggs, and potatoes, were exported to Afghanistan during this period.

Iran’s imports from Afghanistan also rose sharply, totalling over $33 million, a 192% increase in this period. 

The primary exports to Iran included barley, corn, peanuts, and chilies.

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Private sectors of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan sign contracts worth $100 million

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Private sectors of Afghanistan and Kazakhstan have signed contracts worth $100 million during the visit of an Afghan delegation to Almaty recently, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) announced on Thursday.

The agreements include the export of more than 2,000 tons of dried fruit, the export of fresh fruit, including pomegranates, and the export of cotton, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, said on X.

Mujahid said that the Islamic Emirate delegation during its recent visit to Kazakhstan signed a "road map of cooperation between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan in the fields of trade, industry, mining, energy, logistics, agriculture, telecommunications, health, higher education and humanitarian aid.”

He said Kazakhstan also assured that it would provide more facilities for the transit of Afghan goods to China and other countries through Kazakhstan.

The allocation of an area "as a logistics center for Afghan goods" in the port of Khargos was also part of the agreement between the two sides to facilitate the unloading and loading of Afghan traders' goods.

The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate also said that Kazakhstan will participate in the construction of the Torghundi-Herat, Kandahar-Spin Boldak and Mazar-e-Sharif-Kharlachi railway projects.

Mujahid added that Kazakhstan will also participate in the establishment of a trade and transit center in Herat province, which will be used to store and finance trade and transit goods. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan has agreed to establish permanent expo centers for the sale of Afghan goods in various cities of Kazakhstan.

It is worth mentioning that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate led by Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce, participated in the three-day exhibition of Afghanistan's domestic products, which was launched on October 21 in Almaty.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce recently announced that 23 tons of pomegranates from Kandahar province were exported to Almaty through the port of Torghundi.

 

 

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China resumes direct rail trade with Afghanistan

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China resumed its direct freight rail services to Afghanistan on Thursday when a train loaded with goods left Nantong city in Jiangsu province.

The train, carrying commercial goods in 55 wagons, is heading for the northern Hairatan border in Balkh province, Yue Xiaoyong, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Special Representative for Afghanistan, said in a post on X.

Nantong is a central hub of the Belt and Road Initiative and is located north of Shanghai.

The resumption of the rail line was marked at a formal ceremony on Thursday with Yue and Bilal Karimi, the Afghan Ambassador to China, in attendance.

This comes after China recently announced plans to lift customs tariffs on Afghan exports to China by the end of this year, further strengthening trade ties between the two nations.

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