ISLAMABAD – Minister for Agriculture Nazar Mohammad Gondal said on Tuesday that Pakistan was focused to tap Japanese and Australian markets for its mangoes after start of exports to United States from this year. Addressing members of mango industry, who were gathered by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to brief them on the quality standards, packing and processing procedures for exports to US, the minister hoped that Pakistani mangoes will make their niche in the North American markets. The United States Department of Agriculture had allowed import of mangoes from Pakistan in August last year.
The minister said after making successful inroads in the EU and US markets, their next endeavor was to reach the Australian and Japanese markets. Pakistan having annual production of 1.5 million tonnes is the fifth largest mango producer and third largest exporter of mangoes.
Last year mango exports of 127,000 tonnes were processed which helped earn foreign exchange of $6.0 million. Pakistan also managed to export 1500 tonnes of dry mango and is looking forward to start mango pulp and juices export. The mango exports have remained limited to main Gulf Arab states and Saudi Arabia. After assistance from US, Pakistan upgraded its packaging and processing infrastructure, implemented international quality standards that paved the way to exporting mangoes to European markets and prepared for shipments to the US from this year.
