KARACHI: Pakistan’s export of Kinnow would be reduced by over 30 percent this year due to decrease in overall production, sources said. The process of exporting the fruit to Iran, Central Asian States, Middle East and some African countries has started but the markets in European countries and Russia could not be tapped by the exporters as quality standards were not up to the required level.
Another reason is the shortage of small sized Kinnows in the domestic market, which have made export to Europe and Russia difficult. This year the average size of the fruit is expected to be large due to favourable weather conditions. But a decline of 20 to 25 percent in production as compared to last year would affect the over all export of Kinnow.
However, the sources said, a bumper crop of Kinnow is expected in next season as the country gets a good crop of the fruit every alternate year. Apart from reduction in output, sources said, the negligence of Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company (PHDEC) was also causing further decline in export.
PHDEC, they claimed, has not organized a single meeting in the last one year with the exporters or growers to improve the export of the country’s fruit and vegetables. Under the current circumstances, they said the target of 300,000 metric tonnes of Kinnow during the year 2010-11 set by PHDEC was unlikely to be achieved.
They further said that, in Iran, one of Pakistan’s main importers of Kinnow, there was 45 percent import duty on Kinnow which was likely to be lifted by February, 2011. However the sources in PHDEC claimed that Pakistan had produced 2.1 million tonnes of citrus last year which was exported to Russia, Iran, UAE, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.
The fruit was also exported to the Philippines, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Indonesia and CIS countries through Afghanistan.
