Mango exports to Japan: Fruit exporters welcome lifting of ban

[LahoreEstate]

By Tanveer Sher

KARACHI: Fruit exporters have expressed the optimism of tremendous increase in mango exports during the current season following Thursday’s announcement by the government of Japan to lift ban on its import from Pakistan.

While welcoming the decision, a majority of leading fruit exporters has welcomed the decision especially in the wake of shrinking mango exports over the years owing to multifarious factors.

They also claimed that the decision of lifting ban on mango imports was achieved through collaborated efforts of Pakistani fruit exporters, coupled with the government’s backing, which proved a major success for creating a new major market for the Pakistani mangoes.

Former Chairman All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetables Exporters Mateen Siddiqui told Daily Times that never before Pakistani mangoes, famous world over for its sweetness and taste, were unable to penetrate Japanese market owing to strict international standards.

“Ironically, unlike other major areas across the globe, demand of Pakistani fruits specially mango has was low in demand over the years, which denied the country an opportunity to earn invaluable foreign currency,” he added.

Major mango exporting countries include almost all Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, UAE besides European countries including Sweden, Denmark, UK, France and some parts of Far East Countries, including Singapore and Malysia.

He said Pakistani mango exports were found to be shrinking during the last many years on account of multiple factors including devastation of its crop spread over large growing areas in Sindh and Punjab.

During the previous year, mango exports ranged between 80,000 to 90,000 metric tones, which is lower as compared to 2007 when it peaked to 1,10,000 metric tonnes.

He said annual mango yield usually ranges between 2 million to 2.5 million tonnes in the country out of which hardly 5 to 7 percent is exported worth while the rest is consumed locally.

The traditional growing areas of mango include Rahimyar Khan and Multan famous globally for their ‘Chonsa’ variety while in Sindh Hala, Matiari, Kotri, Tandoallayar and Chanbar areas are renowned worldwide for ‘Sindhri’ variety.

However, the situation has developed into a nightmare for exporters during the current years owing to devastation of mango crops spread over large areas of cultivation, as the expected yield is likely to remain between 0.8 million to 1 million tones, which would result in steep rise in its price.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2009_pg5_5