175,000 tons mangoes export target set

According to the ministry of commerce, the mango export will start from May 25, 2013.Waheed Ahmed, chairman of PFVA, said that the association had set an export target of 175,000 tons for the season, which will earn the country $60 million.

He said that the country was expected to produce 1.55 million tons of mangoes this year.He said that the production of the fruit has reportedly been hurt in Sindh due to poor weather conditions the crop faced during the sowing and growing seasons.

“The production of mangoes shall fall by about 25 percent to 150,000 tons in Sindh,” he said, “The production of mango in Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Mityari, Mirpurkhas and other parts of the province was badly affected, which has also caused delayed the season by two weeks.”

He said that Pakistan will start commercial export of mangoes to Japan this year after it successfully introduced the fruit in the foreign market last year.

However, the quantity of export of the fruit to Japan will remain limited this year. “In coordination with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, PFVA would be promoting the processed fruit in the valued Japanese market,” he said.

Besides, exporters will focus on exports to Australia, South Korea, the US, Mauritius and Lebanon markets and initiatives would be taken to uplift the quality of Pakistani mangoes to increase exports, he said.

Pakistan was presently exporting mango to at least 40 countries across the world, including Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Lebanon and others.

The commercially exported varieties are Sindhri, Sunhaira, Fajri, Began Phali, Summar, Chaunsa, Black Chanusa, and White Chaunsa.

He said that international barriers on trade with Iran would decline Pakistan’s exports to that country, as Pakistani banks have stopped trade services with Iranian ones. “Previously, Iran was importing 30,000 tons of mangoes from Pakistan.”

The halt of export to Iran will force Pakistan to lose $10 million worth mangoes export to the country, he said.Besides, Pakistan could not export mangoes to US markets on commercial basis due to the condition of treating the mangoes at a radiation plant near Chicago and unavailability of direct air service.

 Moreover, exports to Australia also could not begin this year too because of quarantine issue. Though Australian quarantine team visited facilities and orchards in the country to check the quality of the fruit for their markets last year, yet no development has been taken place in this regard, he said.