Pakistan: Mango export target hard to achieve
He said the most disappointing point this year is that Pakistan is likely to get a bumper crop of mango of over 1.5 million tons. The country should be exporting double the target quantity, at least 25% of the total production, but the prevailing infrastructure is highly insufficient, he says.
One of the key issues is that various countries have specified their own laws surrounding import, but mostly new export firms are not fully aware of these requirements.
Jawad said the performance of public sector stake holders remains highly critical because they have failed to set up the required infrastructure.
Besides limited availability of space on airlines, the key impediment is freight cost because soon after commencement of mango export, airlines start increasing freight charges.
The Harvest CEO further said the big problem in mango export is that there are not adequate facilities to store mango shipment at Karachi & Lahore airports. Any delay in flight affects the quality of shipment and if delayed beyond 12 hours the entire shipment can go stale. Therefore, exporters avoid exporting fully ripe mangos, instead sending those which usually fetch lower prices.
Similarly, export to Iran through official channels has come down considerably due to US sanctions. The issue can be resolved through diplomatic efforts but policy planners seem least interested.
This has paved the way for smuggling of mangoes through land routes to Iran, which deprives the country of much need foreign exchange. In the absence of opportunities to export mangos to high end markets a substantial quantity is dumped in Saudi Arabia and UAE and the ultimate loss goes to Pakistani exporters, he added.
It may also be recall that the 2012 export target fell short by 23%, with just 135,000 tons exported.
For more information:
Ali Akhlaq Mughal
Harvest Tradings
[email protected]
www.harvesttradings.com
