Thread by @zaikokko

THREAD: The price increase of Supari in the Maldives is directly attributable to the Pakistani government's decision to curb imports.

dawn.com/news/1365135

A set of new stringent regulations and compliance orders are being implemented and many imports are being held by Customs until the requirements are met. Including Arecanut, the main ingredient used in the production of Supari. #BringThePriceDown #Supari

The minimal supply of Arecanut currently in Pakistan, along with the demand from the local market as well as exporting companies has driven the price up tremendously, in turn, raising the price of all brands of supari. #BringThePriceDown #Supari

Many Pakistani companies have now temporarily stopped the production of supari till the situation is resolved. As per the current situation, a new order of Rasily supari is set to cost more than USD130,000, i.e. almost MVR1.00 per packet of Supari. #BringThePriceDown #Supari

Add to that the other costs associated with import, overheads, warehousing, distribution, the deserved margin for our hardworking retailers, dhaageenaa fees paid to dhonis and boats for transportation to islands and GST. #BringThePriceDown #Supari

A further addition of 25% duty charged for the import of Supari by the government of Maldives. #BringThePriceDown #Supari

And let's not forget the shitty foreign currency situation in a country where Tourism is our No.1 export. The cost of purchasing USD from the so called black market, which by the way, is illegal as per 2 page Monetary regulation from 1987. mma.gov.mv/documents/Laws…

This is why Supari is expensive right now and it will be as so until the situation changes. Manufacturers from Pakistan say that they expect it to be another 3 months until the situation is resolved and arecanut stocks are released such that they can commence production again.

During this period, we are doing out level best to make sure that no one is advantaged with supari stocks which they can hold onto and sell at an even higher price.#BringThePriceDown #Supari