Sharjah, 28 Oct. 05 (WAM)--An unprecedented demand for tents from Pakistan has resulted in the short supply of tents in the UAE market, reported a local daily on Friday.

According to The Gulf Today, Many tent suppliers have run out of stock and are waiting for the Pakistan government to lift the ban on export of tents to other countries.

Tent suppliers in the UAE said the country will have to cope with the shortage of tents for the next two months when the Pakistan government is likely to lift the ban.

The ban on the export of tents was imposed by the Pakistani government to provide temporary shelter and relief to earthquake affected people in the North West Frontier Province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Walid Dhdhar, sales manager of Al Baddad International, was quoted by the English language newspaper as saying that his company has sold more than 5,000 tents in the last couple of weeks since the quake struck the region on Oct.8.

"There is a huge demand for tents at the moment. We have run out of stock and are waiting for the ban to go to get fresh supply," said Walid.

He said the company is awaiting response from relief agencies for supplying tents made of alumimium which are expensive than tarpaulin ones.

According to market estimates, more than 50,000 tents have been sold in just two days after the killer quake hit the region.

Most of the tents have been bought by relief agencies and other non-governmental organisations involved in the relief and rescue operations in the earthquake ravaged region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Omar Mahmood Hamshoo, managing director of Rahala Tent Factory, Sharjah, said he is having a difficult time in telling customers about the non-availability of stock.

"Our company is inundated with calls from people asking for more tents.

We are refusing everyone by saying that we dot have enough stock. This situation may continue for a few more months before new tents arrive from Pakistan," said Omar Mahmood.

He said the scarcity of tents has hit other parts of the Gulf region, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

Abdul Rahim, managing director of Bilal Tents, Sharjah, said the demand for tents is huge compared to last year when tsunami devastated many Asian countries.

"We sold our stock in just two days after the quake hit the region. We never expected that demand would be so high," said Rahim.

He said importing tents from India would be an expensive affair for many companies.