"Smuggling appears prevalent under the guise of Afghan Transit Trade (ATT)." This was stated in a brief analysis conducted by Pakistan Business Council (PBC) on selected trade and manufacturing data for Pakistan. It said that large quantities of commodities are being imported under ATT. However, there is a limited demand by the industry or limited domestic consumption in Afghanistan.
For example, special woven and tufted product, lace and tapestry worth US 500 million dollars was imported by the war-torn country in 2014. The PBC after analyzing top 10 imported commodities under ATT for Afghanistan stated that contribution of the commodities imported under Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) declined by around US 1.9 billion dollars from 2001 to 2014.
It further said that imports of electrical and electronic equipment, which touched almost US 300 million dollars in 2009, declined by around US 80 million dollars to US 220 million dollars in 2014. Similarly, imports of nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery, etc, which stood at US 110 million dollars in 2009, hovered below US 100 million dollars in 2014. On the other hand, the import data of vehicles, animals, vegetable, fats and oils, cleavage products, coffee, tea, mate and spices etc, compiled by PBC, show phenomenal growth, despite having less demand of these items in Afghanistan.
The figures showed that the import of animals, vegetable, fats and oils, cleavage products, etc jumped to US 450 million dollars from US 98 million dollars from 2009 to 2014. Similarly, the imports of vehicles other than railway and tramway also escalated to US 310 million dollars in 2014 from US 30 million dollars in 2009. During said period, cotton import increased to US 105 million dollars from US five million dollars, pharmaceutical products reached to US 80 million dollars from US 10 million dollars, plastics surged to US 80 million dollars from US 30 million dollars and iron and steel stood at US 60 million dollars to US 20 million dollars. The PBC after this study believed that majority of smuggling-prone commodities, which have less demand in Afghanistan, are being imported under the garb of ATT.