About 6000 wheat trucks bound for Bangladesh are stranded at the border since May 14 for registration certificates to be issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). Indian government had banned wheat exports on May 13, but later allowed those consignments to be exported wherein Banks had already opened the letter of credits before announcing the ban. But the exports are still stuck as they are pending clearance from DGFT. The process is taking time as the officials need to confirm that the exporters didn’t back date the letter of credits.
Trucks waiting at the Bangladesh border mostly belong to the small traders, unlike those waiting at the Kandla Port wherein large quantities of wheat belonged to only a few large traders. The Confederation of West Bengal Trade Associations has confirmed that around 6000 trucks, 10-12 railway rakes and 10-12 barges were waiting at the Kolkata Port alone. According to the rough estimates of the traders and exporters only consignments of about 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of wheat may have genuine letter of credit.
Bimal Bengani, chairman (international trade) at the trade body, said: “There are about 1,200 applications from the eastern region submitted to the DGFT online for the registration certificate for export of wheat having letters of credit opened prior to May 13. Around 200 RCs were issued to several exporters till June 2, but many are still pending.”
Bengani said the trade body had requested the government to allow consignments having import permits issued by the Bangladesh government prior to the date of the ban notification to cross the border. “If the government thinks that the LCs are allegedly ‘fraudulent’, they can approve LC issued after May 11 only after proper scrutiny. However, LCs issued on or before May 11 should be approved immediately to avoid further losses to exporters as already 23 days have passed,” he added.
“The trucks are still waiting at various places like Hilli, Gojhadanga, Burimari and Mehandipur,” said Binod Agarwal, managing partner of SGR Indenting House.
Wheat exporter Rajesh Jain Paharia said: “It is not financially feasible to call back the stranded trucks nor do we have the option of selling the wheat in the local market. With the monsoon already here, we are also afraid about damage to wheat.”
