Attari-Wagah closure likely to hit dry fruit imports from Afghanistan; may push domestic prices

New Delhi: India's imports of dry fruits, including almonds, raisins, dried apricots, and pistachios, from Afghanistan are expected to be impacted due to the closure of the land borders amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, which is expected to push domestic prices of these commodities, according to exporters.

Following the terror attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists, India took a series of measures, including immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post, used for movement of certain kinds of goods.

In retaliation, Pakistan also announced that all trade with India, including to and from any third country through Pakistan, is suspended forthwith. This move may affect India's exports to Afghanistan.

The exporters said that Afghanistan is a key exporter of these dry fruits into India. New Delhi also imports these goods from Islamabad.

At present, India is trading with Afghanistan via the Attari-Wagah border and Pakistan's suspension of trade will impact domestic exports and imports to Kabul.

In 2024-25 (April-January), India's exports to Afghanistan were USD 264.15 million, while imports stood at $591.49 million. Out of this, India's inbound shipments of dry fruits stood at $358 million.

During this period, India's fruits and nuts import from Pakistan was $0.08 million.

The main goods imported from Afghanistan through the land route included dried figs, asafoetida), saffron, dried apricots, pistachios, and raisins.

Attari is near Amritsar in Punjab.

A Delhi-based importer said that the closure of the land route will definitely impact imports of dry fruits from both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Though immediate there is no impact as goods are in transit, but after ten days the imports will be stopped completely. After that the prices would go up to 20 per cent in the national capital," Rajiv Batra, president, Khari Baoli Traders' Association, said.

He added, "We will get the nuts but it would come from countries like UAE, Iran, and Iraq as these would act as an alternate route for Afghan dry fruits".