The Government and the Representatives of Fruit and Vegetable Exporters have agreed to establish cold storages on airports and shipping ports across the country.
The Ministry of Commerce hosted a consultative session on the issues pertaining to exports of mango via video-link. The session was attended by Advisor to Prime Minister for Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood. The participants included Chairman of Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA), Waheed Ahmad, farmers, and exporters of mangoes.
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The officials of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR), and Department of Plant Protection (DPP) were also present.
It was agreed that efforts will be made to establish cold storage areas on airport and shipping ports, and the Ministry of Aviation and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will be approached for reserving a dedicated area for mango consignments.
The CAA will also be approached to install bigger scanners for scanning the consignments instead of loading and unloading small crates.
The main issues identified during the meeting were the compliance requirements, high freight charges, lack of cold storage facilities at the airports, and insufficient water and vapor treatment facilities.
After a brief presentation by the Agro Wing of the Commerce Division, the participants noted with appreciation that mangoes export is maintaining a positive trajectory and Pakistani mangoes are now getting better prices as compared to previous years.
It was agreed that the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) would examine all the legal issues for operationalizing the already-imported Vapour Heat Treatment Plant, presently lying at the Expo Centre Karachi.
It was also agreed that the MOC would focus on exploring new markets and obtain tariff concessions for the export of mangoes. The establishment of a Mango Development Council will be explored, which will have representation from all stakeholders, including farmers, traders, cool chains representatives, research institutes, etc.
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Razak Dawood advised the TDAP to double its efforts for marketing Pakistani mangoes abroad.
The Ministry of Commerce has informed that the export of local mango increased to $104 million in 2019-20 from $78 million in the previous year 2018-19.
The main markets for Pakistan’s export are United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, informed a press release issued by the Ministry of Commerce.
