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Exports hit by troop buildup, port congestion

Indian grain exports have slowed down, as the military buildup reduced the number of available railway wagons to move supplies and congestion at the ports delayed cargo movements, traders said on Thursday.

Exporters said that over the past week railway wagons needed to carry grains from the northern land-locked states to the ports were being deployed instead to move Indian military supplies to the border amid tension between India and Pakistan.

"We are being refused wagons and it is not possible to transport huge quantities by road," Gagan Gulati, a leading Ahmedabad-based exporter told Reuters.

India and Pakistan have massed a million men along their border, from disputed Kashmir in the Himalayas through desert states and on the Arabian Sea, in their latest military standoff over Kashmir which has stoked fears of war.

The mobilisation of troops by India and Pakistan started after a December attack on India's Parliament that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Tension soared again after an attack by militants on an Indian army camp in Kashmir on May 14, prompting Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to tell his front-line troops to prepare for a "decisive fight".

An Indian Railway official said non-availability of wagons could be due to "operational reasons." "If there is a complaint about shortage of goods wagons, it must be due to operational reasons," he told Reuters. He did not elaborate.

"We are not getting rakes in Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi where most of the grain is stored," a New Delhi-based rice exporter said.

SHIPS WAITING

Shipping agents said there was a waiting period of five to seven days to move cargo at India's busiest Kandla port.

"Wagons are not being unloaded for days and ships are waiting for berths," Yogesh Mehta, a leading agent said on telephone from Kandla.

Port officials said the delay has been caused by a religious holiday last week and the backlog would be cleared soon. "There is no congestion at the port and some delay was there due to a holiday last week," a port official said.

But on Thursday, 11 ships carrying goods for exports were waiting for a berth at Kandla port on the western coast, where manual labour is used to load cargo into the ships.

Traders said the delay in cargo movement was adding to the costs and fears of cancellation of deals were growing.

"We are already facing demurrage costs and if there is too much delay then buyers will look for alternative sources," said one exporter in the southern city of Hyderabad.

The government has set an export target of 15 million tonnes of wheat and rice during the year to cut its bulging stocks estimated to have crossed 75 million tonnes by the end of April.

In the year to March 2002, the country sold 8.6 million tonnes of grain against the target of eight million tonnes.

India currently sells grains mainly to the Southeast Asian countries, Africa and the Middle East.

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