Korea opens gateway for Pakistani mangoes

Thursday, July 05, 2012 - Islamabad—The Government of Korea has allowed Pakistani mangos access to its high-priced market after completing some internal procedural and legal formalities in best of mutual trade interests.

The first ever shipment of these mangos to Seoul might be commenced from this July.

This permission can be perceived in two ways; first, Korea has allowed Pakistani mangos export by using a low-cost and easily available processing facility known as Water Heat Treatment (WHT) instead of a very expensive Vapor Heat Treatment (VHT) system, a constraint for exporting the mangos to some regions in the world. Second, Korea has permitted sea shipping along with airlifting to lower the cargo cost, which would benefit the Pakistani exports eventually.

A Korean quarantine expert team is already in Pakistan since last month to verify the production fields, processing units and relevant export infrastructure etc to avoid carrying health hazard from the country.

Korea is already importing mangos from Philippine, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Korean Embassy in Pakistan expects that Pakistani mango due to its unique taste and superior quality not only can make a good share in the Korean lucrative market but also will generate substantial foreign earnings for the country.

Moreover, Pakistan exporters by adopting the required quarantine standards, proper packing & marketing strategy can get much more benefit as compared to present estimates.