Good news for Kenya’s tea farmers (& the country’s foreign currency earnings) as Pakistan declares Tea to be an essential import.
The importance of this is that banks in Pakistan will now prioritize LCs associated with importation of tea.
In a letter by Qamar Zaman, it reads:
The Pakistan Tea Association has informed that during the upcoming month of Ramadan, domestic cemand of Tea will increase substantially across tne country;
however the commercial banks are reluctant to issue/ open letter of credit for import ofbTea, due to which supply and distribution issues of the commodity in the local market has already started to surface and it may result in price hike of the commodity.
Therefore, in order to carter to the domestic demand of Tea, the Association has requested that importation of Tea may be declared as “Essential lmport” and the same may be included in State bank of PakIstan’s Exchange Policy Department’s Letter No. 20 of 2022, dated 27-12-2022 Via amendment.
In view of the above, it is requested that necessary instructions may be issued to the banks for opening LC’s of the Tea on priority as this is part ot Essential lmports in food category.”
