KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) has stressed for allowing the exports of jaggery (gurr) and khashkhash to global buyers, a statement said on Tuesday.

The Unisame invited the attention of Commerce Additional Federal Secretary Dr Ahmed Mujtaba Memon to the long outstanding demand of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector for reopening of gurr production and allowing export of khashkhash as well to global buyers although agreed in principle and accepted as food commodity.

Unisame President Zulfikar Thaver said that several meetings have been held with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) officials and regular communications with the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoI&P), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officials and the Ministry of Commerce with valid, rational and logical arguments from stakeholders.

The PSQCA has adopted Pakistan standards for both gurr and khashkhash and the Lahore High Court (LHC) has removed the ban on production of raw sugar and gurr, he added.

Thaver said that India and China both are exporting gurr while Turkey is exporting khashkhash. Pakistan is losing the markets of both the commodities and due to the ban on these two items.

Pakistan is also losing buyers of several other commodities as buyers prefer to buy all items from a single shipper rather than different items from different sellers, he added.

The Unisame has submitted a comprehensive proposal to the Ministry of Commerce and has explained in detail how to make it smooth without any complications and without any hindrances by allotting separate codes to the food grade and separate to the one for medicinal purposes.

The Unisame president said that the policies will simply remain documents if not implemented, while urging the ministers and bureaucrats to implement policies fast.

The Unisame Council expressed its displeasure at the slow pace of decision making of policy makers, saying that the SMEs are badly affected by the delay and more so when quick decisions are required to overcome the setback caused because of the pandemic.

The Smeda and MoI&P both have recommended export of gurr and khashkhash based on full study of the facts and the removal of the stigma on khashkhash by PSQCA, it added.