Fresh potato export expected to expand in Pakistan
“In exports of perishable items, gravity of trade is the key to success,” says a Karachi-based exporter. “We export fruit and vegetables to far away markets like Europe and Africa but we can’t immediately meet their temporary shortfalls.”
Sri Lanka this year has provided Pakistan this kind of opportunity. “Had demand risen suddenly in a distant market, we won’t have been able to capture it. We’ve got lots of orders from Sri Lanka because the buyers there know that we can meet their demand quickly,” explained another exporter.
Exporters are upbeat about prospects of potato exports this year because they expect that Russia would restart imports this month. A Pakistani delegation of exporters visited Russia in December to remove Moscow’s concerns and informed colleagues back home, the issue has almost been sorted out.
About 200 people are associated with exports of vegetables and 50-60 of them have been exporting potatoes for some time. Whereas most exporters sell fresh potatoes abroad, a few are trying to capitalise on foreign demand for peeled and dehydrated potatoes as well, market sources say. Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Central Asian States, Russia and the UAE are major markets for Pakistani potatoes. Exporters say, in 2013 they explored Bangladesh and China adding that demand from Chinese markets still persist.
Most exporters, particularly the big ones, have lately started using modern facilities for processing before exports, market inquiries reveal. Some exporters, however, continue to cash in on occasional surge in demand for potatoes from India or Afghanistan (countries that are themselves big producers) by supplying the vegetables in bulk through land routes.
Primarily it was higher potato production in 2013 that gave boost to exports, officials in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research say. Final stats will trickle in after a few months, but initial estimates put last year’s output around four million tonnes, up from about 3.5 million tonnes in 2012. Progressive farmers in Punjab and Sindh say output this year will also be no less than four million tonnes and cite early maturity of the crop as an indication.
Lately, food processing business has been expanding, urban people have started using packaged food in a big way and thousands of large retail outlets have popped up across the country in addition to the entry and expansion of a few big chains of super stores and eateries. All this is driving domestic demand for potatoes up. Now, Pakistan’s strong re-entry in the exports markets last year, after two years of low activity, would keep fuelling demand.
Source: dawn.com
