The Essential Commodities Importers’ Association states that more than a thousand containers of imported food items are currently stuck in the Port of Colombo.
The Importers’ Association states that the goods have been stranded at the port without being able to be released due to delays in payment in dollars to the exported companies because of the deficit in dollars in Sri Lanka, although all payments have been made to the banks for these imports in Sri Lankan currency.
The containers contained food items including sugar, garlic, dried chillies and peas, said Nihal Seneviratne, media spokesman for the Essential Commodities Importers’ Association.