Pakistan mango season looking positive

The Pakistan mango season is about to begin. According to feedback from the growers, this year will be a bumper crop. There was early hot weather which is the most important factor in the maturity of mango crop and conditions during April are expected to remain favourable and good quality mango will be available for export by the next month. Last year Pakistan mango export stood at US$ 70 million and this year it is expected to fetch around US$ 90 million plus.

"This year Pakistani exporters may also enjoy CPEC links with China and other far eastern countries to enhance exports. China being world’s largest importer of agricultural products consumes almost $1 trillion worth of food every year. China imported agricultural products worth US$ 160 billion last year. Pakistan, being China’s neighbour, enjoys a unique advantage and CPEC provides an unprecedented opportunity to capitalize on the available demand and enhance its agriculture exports to China. However, Pakistan’s share of export despite having a large agrarian base and a shared border with China was minuscule," explains Imtiaz Hussain, Managing Director at Imtiaz Enterprises.

Chinese consumption patterns have changed very rapidly and the demand for high quality imported food items in China is growing at a much faster pace. Agricultural development is one of the seven areas of cooperation under CPEC, wherein China is specifically interested to explore the agricultural productivity, efficient irrigation and post-harvest infrastructure along the CPEC route.

The Pakistani government and private sector have placed mango on priority for trade to China. The authorities are negotiating to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers for mango trade. The private sector and agri-entrepreneurs are becoming the trailblazers and have started exploring viable market opportunities in the Chinese market and forge partnerships with international firms to get a foothold. Several workshops and other studies relating to the post-harvest technology to improve Mango variety and quality have been conducted by the Quarantine & Sanitary Protocol Inspectors in coordination with the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan.

"Similarly encouraging orders from Japan have been received where VHT processed mango has been exported for the last three years. Based on the preceding years' data, high volumes of mango exports to Japan have been planned by the authorities."

Last year in collaboration with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Imtiaz Enterprises introduced Mango to Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belarus, Bulgaria and Czech Republic. "We have received tremendous encouragement for Pakistani mango and we are in the process of making agreements with several distributors, supermarkets and hypermarkets for a special Pakistan Mango promotion at their stores. We also plan to initiate a special campaign in the Middle East and Far East Asian countries in association with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan to expand our clientele base."

Recently the Pakistan Horticulture Development Board has been reconstituted where a new dynamic CEO is going to take charge. "We plan to collaborate with the PHDEC to devise a special development plan on the basis of production and export data to enhance the cultivated area matching with the growing demand for Pakistan Mango varieties."

Imtiaz Hussain
IMTIAZ ENTERPRISES
Cell : +92-333-2111495
Tel: +92-21-36870451-53,
Email: info@imtiaz.biz
Website : www.imtiaz.biz