Tea export to Pakistan is facing a setback as over 2,000 tonnes of tea remained stuck up at different warehouses in Chittagong due to shipment problem.

"We have been facing problem in making the shipment since last eight days due to shortage of vessels in the Pakistan route," said Feroz Ahmed, chairman of Tea Traders Association of Bangladesh (TTAB).

He said the exporters are now very much concerned about tea exports to Pakistan, which is one of the major buyers of Bangladesh tea.

"We are not getting mother vessel connection from Singapore and Colombo to send our tea to Pakistan. We depend on it as we don't have any direct shipping route to Pakistan," Feroz added.

He said shortage of empty containers also compounded the crisis.

"We are really worried as we can't hold these tea for a long time," the TTAB chairman said seeking immediate government steps to resolve the crisis.

Rasul Nizam, managing director of a leading tea brokerage house said due to shipment problem prices of tea dropped by Tk 2 to Tk 3 per kg on average.

"We are fearing further slump in the next auctions if the shipment problem is not resolved immediately", he said.

However, Rafiqul Islam, a shipping line executive said there were problems in getting slot in connecting mother vessels but the situation will be normal within one month.

Pakistan is supposed to import 10 million kg of tea from Bangladesh every year under a duty free tariff arrangement.

In the fiscal 2002-2003, Pakistan imported 6.19 million kg of tea from Bangladesh, official reports said.