January
2, 2008 Strike by Sri Lankan
Food Importers
May Affect India By P.K.
Balachandran
Colombo
Indian exporters of essential foods to Sri Lanka may be hit hard if
importers and distributors in the island carry out a threat to go on
strike against the Sri Lankan government's bid to enter the trade on
unequal terms.
"India is one of the major suppliers of essential foods to Sri
Lanka. Most of the onions, potatoes, sugar, chick peas and all the
chillies come from India," Hemaka Fernando of the Essential Food
Commodities Importers and Traders Association said Wednesday.
"Per month, we import 7,000 tonnes of potatoes, 10,000 tonnes of
onions, 15,000 tonnes of sugar, 1,000 tonnes of chick peas and an
equal amount of chillies from there," he told IANS.
Following the rise in the prices of essential foods - inflation now
is an unprecedented 24 percent - the Sri Lankan government has been
thinking of entering the import and distribution business by
establishing a company and giving it tax concessions.
But private traders, who handle 95 percent of the import and
distribution, are alarmed by this move and are planning an island
wide shut down.
"If we bring the shutters down, the country will face dire
consequences," Fernando warned.
"If the trade is taken over by a state institution, it is the people
of Sri Lanka who will suffer. In place of an experienced and
well-organized group of traders with over 40 years of experience,
there will be bureaucrats who will do the bidding of their political
masters. There will be no scrutiny of their actions," he said.
The government claims the private importers and distributors are
responsible for the rise in the prices of essential foods. It says
they are not passing tax concessions and reductions in the price of
imports on to the consumers. But Fernando refuted this allegation.
"For example, the price of sugar in the international market is $285
per tonne. On Dec 25 last year, the government removed the customs
duty concessions on essential foods, which triggered a rise in the
retail prices," he said.
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