KARACHI: Pakistan's lucrative mango exports to Iran have been seriously jeopardized this year mainly due to negligence and inefficiency on part of relevant officials of the ministry of commerce and customs, exporters said.
It is feared that this year only around 800 tons of mango will be exported to Iran against the estimated 15,000 tons export under normal circumstances.
It is learnt that mango consignments are being stuck on the Pakistan-Iran border for the last four days owing to sheer negligence and ill-planning on part of the relevant authorities. Such a situation, if allowed to persist, will deny Pakistan its regular mango export target this year.
Talking to Business Recorder, a leading mango exporter, Babar Durrani, who is also the chief executive officer of the Durrani Group of Companies, said that the Pakistan-Iran border had been completely sealed last month as part of the lockdown measures against the spread of the coronavirus.
He said that now the border crossing was open, but exports were being allowed on three days only - Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays - and that too for a limited time period - from 10am to 3pm.
The time allotted for mango export is too short since empty trucks could not reach from the Iranian side to carry mangoes owing to the traffic related to the trade of other commodities. The consignments of mangoes stuck on the Pakistan-Iran border could rot, causing irreparable damage to mango exporters and to the economy of the country.
According to Babar Durrani, each year around 15,000 tons of mangoes are exported to Iran, roughly 20 per cent of the annual Pakistani mango exports.
He said that reserving just three days for import and export of any commodity was too short especially when it was a perishable farm produce.
Such a sorry state of affairs has been damaging trade between the two countries especially causing harm to the exports of Pakistani products.
He appealed to the prime minister, officials of the ministry of commerce, the Federal Board of Revenue and Customs to resolve the issue at the earliest.
Durrani said that the total value of the mango consignments stuck on the Pakistan-Iran border was Rs400 million.
He said that the stakeholders related to the entire supply chain of mango exports down to the level of growers would incur irreparable losses this year if the export of these consignments was not allowed smoothly.
This should not be the case as these people, especially the farmers, have already been facing serious economic hardships this year due to the persisting lockdown measures in the country, he said.
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