Hyderabad: Ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan last month, the media and internet have been abuzz with rumours that the prices of dry fruits in local markets of the city are going to skyrocket. The general belief being that the war-torn country’s political turmoil will affect local supply.
In fact, some media reports even claimed that the Taliban takeover has led to a 40-50% hike in prices as 85% of the dry fruits are imported from Afghanistan. However, when Siasat.com visited the dry fruit market at Begum Bazaar on Tuesday, local store owners said that such media reports are “over-exaggerated”.
Some traders even went on to say that it’s completely “fake news” and that there is no truth to it, while others acknowledged that the rise in prices reported was due to a disruption in imports.
“The media is over-exaggerating the impact of the Taliban. Prices of dry fruits imported from Afghanistan did go up for a while, and now they are back to normal,” the owner of Kashmir House, Rajkumar Tandonhe told Siasat.com.
Another trader named Kishan said that the inflation is basic economics. “Increase in demand and decrease in supply is what happened. The Taliban takeover did have an impact on the supply, however, when the exports stabilize the rates of the dry fruits imported from Afghanistan will return to normal.
The situation in Afghanistan took a turn for the worse in August as the Taliban took over the state once America decided to withdraw its troops from the nation. The Taliban had been driven out of power after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 in the US, wherein the World Trade Centre was destroyed when a plane hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists flew it into the building, killing hundreds.
One of the traders who did not want to be quoted, said that the up and down in prices is “business as usual”. “The impact of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan on dry fruit markets in Hyderabad has been blown out of proportion. The media loves sensationalizing it,” he remarked.
While a few business owners did accept that prices may go up for a while, it is to be seen what the long term impact of the Taliban takeover will do. As of now, the store owners are pretty much at ease.