Around 800 flour mills have reportedly shut down in Pakistan as Afghanistan has stopped import of wheat from the country.

According to local media reports, citing the relevant authorities in Pakistan, the export of flour from Pakistan to Afghanistan was suspended temporarily on Tuesday after authorities in the neighbouring country increased custom duty on the commodity .

The reports further added that flour exporters and dealers in Peshawar stopped export of the commodity to Afghanistan as they were asked to deposit additional amount as custom duty by the Afghan authorities at Torkham border.

Another newspaper, The Express, reported that the Afghan government has hinted at banning the import of wheat flour from Pakistan because of its high cost and low quality.

The move is likely to cause hardships for mill owners as unconfirmed data reveals 800 flour mills, mostly in K-P, have already shut down due to one reason or the other.

This comes as reports emerging earlier suggested that the medical business in Peshawar city of Pakistan has suffered significantly following the Torkham incident last month which led to the decreased movement of Afghans to the country who were mainly traveling for medical care.

According to reports, half of patients at the private hospitals in Peshawar were the Afghans.

“Since the Torkham incident, we were getting less than 10 percent of the usual number of Afghan patients during Ramazan. This was much less even for the month of Ramazan when there is a general drop of patients by 50 percent,” a doctor in a private hospital in Peshawar said.