China agrees to import mangoes

China has agreed to import mangoes processed on hot water treatment plant from Pakistan.
The Chinese consent has been conveyed to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) by its Health Quarantine Department.
A team of Chinese quarantine experts recently visited fruit farms and processing plants in Pakistan to explore the possibility of importing high quality mangoes.
The team has approved one treatment plant at Karachi and indicated to approve two more processing plants provided hygienic conditions are improved.
China is a very big market with promising prospects of mango exports from Pakistan, but the Pakistani exporters are not very hopeful to capture the market in the presence of mangoes imported from nearby Philippine.
"It will not be easy to compete Filipinos in mango exports because of their close proximity with China with a distinct advantage of freight", Fruits and Vegetable Processors and Exporters Association Chairman Mateen Siddiqui said on Friday. He said the exports could be possible only if the government provided some incentives to the fruit exporters.
Siddiqui said that the association, in collaboration with the EPB, would arrange visit of the exporters' delegation to China to study the demand and price prevailing in the Chinese market and only then the export prospects could be determined.
He, however, ruled out the possibility of starting mango exports to China during the current season, and said that if all calculations went well, the export could begin from the next mango season.
He thanked the EPB Chairman for opening a new market for Pakistani fruits, which could boost the exports considerably.
Meanwhile, EPB Information Director Javed Anwar said on Friday that a Chinese experts' team was due in the city to discuss the possibility of import of rice from Pakistan. During its stay in Pakistan, the Chinese would meet officials and the rice exporters to discuss matters relating to rice exports.