Staff Reporter
Karachi
Secretary General (Federal) of the Businessmen Panel and FPCCI former Chairman on Horticulture Exports, Ch. Ahmad Jawad said Pakistan mango crossed the export volume of 100,000 tons after the span of eight years and it is expected export volume may touch around 120,000 tons before the closure of the season which will be completed by end of this month, comparatively last year it was closed around 80,000 tonnes only.
Jawad said these figures do not include the unofficial trade with Iran, Afghanistan and beyond, the same figure of 100 k was touch down in 2011-12, then after that mango exports faced a sudden drop due to strict import condition by EU countries due to issue of fruit fly.
He was of the view that Pakistan needed to improve the ease of doing business not only internally but also externally. For example, the Middle Eastern airlines’ fares for cargo shipments were up to 20% higher for Pakistani exporters than those for Indian exporters for mangoes.
In 2018-19, most of the mango shipments could not be loaded due to high temperature in Sindh, therefore, Sindh Government and PHDEC should establishing a chiller/cold storage facility for mango exporters in Karachi.
