Gateway America a hope for Pakistani mangoes
"In terms of cost it can minimize our high cost of shipping - to Chicago; transport to Iowa; electron beam irradiation; and then distribute from Iowa - and also gives us more options and flexibility," said Chief Executive Harvest Tradings, Ahmad Jawad.
A new irradiation center in Gulfport, Mississippi, will be a new hope for the mangoes.
Jawad said the development was a positive step. "Once the irradiation units increase, automatically prices for irradiation will come down in order to compete with each other, which will be a big comfort for mango buyers and give us a new hope for our mango to tap the market.
"Currently, the only approved irradiation facility available to treat Pakistani mangoes is run by Sadex Corporation in Iowa, which charges by the hour rather than volume making small imports pricey.
"It is not fair to force us to use only one port of entry. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) must formulate relaxing polices on the import of Pakistani Mangoes as they have done for Indian Products. We want a level playing field in the fruit export of US market."
CEO Harvest Tradings, requested the Pakistani Ambassador in the US, Ms. Sherry Rehman to set up a meeting with the USDA and APHIS officials on a priority basis in regards to this matter.
Since 2011 to date, Pakistan is not capturing the US market in Mangoes except some small volumes last year only.
"Its time for implementation and make drastic decisions for the survival & boost of mango export," said Jawad.
For more information:
Azam Ishaque
Harvest Tradings
[email protected]
www.harvesttradings.com