Pakistan: Mango exports start with shipment to Europe

A consignment of more than 30 tonnes of mangoes has left for Europe, marking the beginning of the fruit’s exports this year. However, traders expect the exports of mango to stay lower than last year in terms of quantity, but may attract higher prices.

Exporters say the shipment left the country late Monday for one of the European countries with mainly Sabz Sindhri in the consignment - the much-demanded variety across the world.

“As official figures suggest, last year we exported 87,000 tonnes of mangoes,” said Mateen Siddiqui, Chairman Fruit and Vegetable Processors and Exporters Association. “Though this year we see the quantity going down, the value of exported mangoes is expected to be higher due to better price offers than last year.”

He said with the beginning of regular shipments, exporters were receiving inquires from different countries around the world with European states expected to be the top importers of the Pakistani fruit.

“Average export price of last year was estimated at 37 cents per kg. This year, it is likely to be higher, but it is too early to reach any conclusion,” he said.

Being the sixth largest producer of mango, Pakistan’s Sindh province offers best varieties of the fruit, which are well in demand mainly in Europe, the United Arab Emirates and United States.

However, the province has recently faced bad weather while growers in Punjab ñ the second biggest producer of mango in the country - have been striving to get rid of a disease, which has damaged the standing crop to some extent. However, exporters do not see any significant impact of such negative developments.

“When there is a decline in production in some areas, there is a substantial increase in other areas of both the provinces,” said Anwar-ul-Haq, an exporter. “There will be no such impact on quantity or total size of the crop by the season’s end. We eye even better exports this year with good price offers.”

He, however, said the situation could delay arrival of the crop from some areas of the two provinces, which could create demand-supply gap, but it did not appear so much threatening to the exports.

“There are hopes of a new market opening this season, but Europe remains the best destination of Pakistani mangoes, as the continent offers best prices than any other part of the world,” said Haq.

However, exporters pinpoint a few areas, which need to be addressed to enhance export volume and increase earnings. They believe decline in quantity does not matter in fruit exports, but there should be good price offers with minimum shipment cost.

“Actually, there are higher freight charges and minimum capacity in air cargoes for mango exports, which dims the chances of better shipments from the country,” said Siddiqui, Chairman of Fruit and Vegetable Processors and Exporters Association.

He ruled out shortage of mangoes and price hike in the domestic market due to export operations, but suggested there should be a proper check on demand and supply to avoid crisis.

“There were also unofficial exports to Iran and Afghanistan last year, which put the total exports at more than 100,000 tonnes against the official figure of 87,000 tonnes,” he added.

Source: thenews.com.pk

Publication date: 5/23/2007

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