Banana Containers Held Up at Customs

Seventy to 80 reefer containers of bananas have been piled up at Iran's southern ports but the Central Bank of Iran failed to allocate foreign currency needed to start their customs clearance, the head of National Union of Agricultural Products said on Friday. 
“The duration of contracts on banana imports is one year; importers sign long-term contracts in line with domestic plans and policies, and thus abrupt decisions cause financial losses for importers, including demurrage costs,” Reza Nourani was also quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
Demurrage charges are payable to the owner of a chartered ship on failure to load or discharge the ship within the agreed period. 
Prices of bananas increased by 16% during the month ending April 19 compared with the month before and 46.2% compared with the same month of the last year. 
A kilogram of bananas was sold at 192,875 rials ($1.1) during the month under review, according to the Statistical Center of Iran.