Wheat Export - Kemari, Karachi

By 1899, Karachi had become the largest wheat and cotton exporting port in South Asia. The port's significance in wheat exports grew rapidly, and by 1910, Karachi handled greater quantities of wheat than any other port in the British Empire. Several factors contributed to Karachi's rise as a wheat exporting hub including the development of irrigation systems in Punjab, which transformed the region into a vast wheat and cotton commodity frontier in the closing decades of the 19th century.
The construction of the North Western Railways established Karachi as a gateway for agricultural produce from the country's interior, as did significant infrastructure improvements at the port, including the addition of new berths, railway sidings, and hydraulic floating cranes. In 1901, wheat exports further increased to 80% of the port's annual trade. This is roughly when the photograph for this postcard would have been taken, and explains why the city's wheat exports featured in many postcards.