Pakistan eyeing citrus fruit export
During a week-long visit to Indonesian cities last month, a 15-member delegation of the Sargodha Chamber of Commerce and Industry found that the demand for kinnow is rising there. Kinnow exports to Indonesia surged last year after a mutual recognition agreement on sanitary and phyto sanitary measures for agricultural products became effective. Besides this, the waiver of customs duty on purchase of Pakistani kinnow under the preferential trade agreement should continue to boost exports to Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the recent Russian move to ban imports of fruits and vegetables from the US and the EU is also fuelling optimism among kinnow exporters, who believe that the ban would eventually benefit fruit and vegetable exporters of Pakistan and other Asian nations. Last year, Russia had lifted the ban it had imposed earlier on Pakistani citrus fruits, but only after the export season had already peaked. Exporters anticipate a real rise this season.
They also expect larger orders from Malaysia, UAE, Saudi Arabia and other GCC nations, in addition to some European countries, because of improved processing, grading and packaging of citrus fruits.
After the successful launching of mango farm tracking earlier this year, Pakistan is now replicating this initiative with citrus fruits. Relevant officials began surveying kinnow farms in Punjab from early October. The survey is aimed at identifying the farms eligible for certification and standardisation for EU markets.
A higher projected production of 2.1-2.2m tonnes, up slightly from last year, is sure to enhance export volumes, say officials of the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company.
Final official figures for last season’s exports are not available, but exporters claim they surpassed the target of 300,000 tonnes. This season’s target remains the same, and leading exporters claim that actual shipments will reach 400,000 tonnes.
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