Pakistan loses $10m in mango exports to Japan
Japan had lifted the 16-year-old ban on Pakistani mango exports on the personal request of President Asif Ali Zardari during his visit to Japan last year. In addition, he advised Pakistani authorities to make all-out efforts to export mangoes to Japan.
However, due to poor efficiency, Pakistan failed to take basic procedures to enable mango exports to Japan after year-and-a-half and thus lost at least $10 million in mango exports.
According to official sources, things were moving positively until last year when the former chief executive of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Tariq Puri, took a personal interest in this matter and arranged a mango introduction party in Japan. Almost 2,500 kg mangoes were distributed among Japanese businessmen and organisations, with the government spending hundreds and thousands of dollars. However, the Japanese authorities demanded the set up of a vapor heat treatment (VHT) plant in Pakistan to process the mangoes before being exported to Japan.
As per official sources, July was the timeframe for the installation of VHT plant in Pakistan and if the plant had been successfully installed then
Pakistan could have easily exported mangoes to Japan. Furthermore, the authorities had failed to manage even the small VHT plant in Karachi, which was given by the Japanese government for sampling and testing.
Source: www.thenews.com.pk