Pakistan: Vegetable exports decline
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, vegetable exports have dropped, year on year, 40.4% in 2011-2012.
There are many reasons for this, including natural disasters and shifting trends in foreign markets.
"The significant drop in vegetable exports is mainly because the onion crop was destroyed by floods," All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association Co-Chairman Waheed Ahmed stated.
Between December 2010 and March 2011, Pakistan exported around 150,000 tons of onion. During the corresponding period of the 2011-2012 season the country only exported only around 1,000 tons.
According to data, Pakistan earned $180.6 million via vegetable exports in 2011-2012. Since 2007 there were rises in volume annually, seemingly peaking in 2010-2011, at 117%.
A lot of this was down to a shortage in potatoes in Russia, which lead to Pakistan exporting 125,000 tons of potato to the country, a figure which, this year, has dropped to 15,000 tons.
"Besides a supply-side change in the Russian vegetable market, another reason for Pakistan’s low vegetable exports in 2011-12 is exorbitant profits charged by middlemen and growers," Ahmed said, adding that he had received an export order of 20,000 tons from Russia, but cancelled it because of artificially inflated prices in the local market.
Thins are slightly better when it comes to the export of fruits, which has grown by 8.1% between 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. mango is the exception to the rule and has seen a decline of 38%.
This was due to a combination of low production and logistical challenges. Fruit exports have also been hit by sanctions on trade with Iran.
Source: tribune.com.pk
