Looking for new avenues to enhance citrus export

A delegation of Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Board comprising exporters and other stake-holders would visit Poland in December this year to explore this new market for kinnow in East Europe.
The Board is targeting the Eastern European countries to enhance country's fruit and vegetable exports to that part of the world, Chief Executive Officer Shahmoon Sadiq said.
He said recently kinnow festival was arranged in Czech Republic and Pakistani s citrus fruit was well received by the Czechs. "Czech Republic is the fifth largest Mandrin citrus (kinnow) importing country in the world and falls only after Germany, the UK, France and Russia." Mr Sadiq said the Board organised the Kinnow Festival at six superstores of Tesco and InterSpaar companies in the Czech capital, Prague.
He said Pakistan annually produces around 13 million tons of fruit and vegetables and the share of kinnow was over 2 million tons. During the year 2006, Pakistan made the highest ever export of around 200,000 tons of kinnow to a number of countries, including Middle East and the South East Asia. He expressed the hope that exports of citrus fruit could increase three times if the exporters fulfil the export requirements. Agricultural scientist Babar Ehsan Bajwa said presently Morocco and Spain dominate the high-end European markets.
He said though they produce seedless citrus but the taste of Pakistani citrus is better. He said Pakistan could easily penetrate high-end European markets with required certification.
Mr Bajwa said another advantage that Pakistan enjoys is that Spanish and Moroccan crop cycle ends in February, while that of Pakistan extends up to mid-April.
Global citrus production last year was 27.33 million tons. Pakistan produced 2.1 million tons of citrus fruit that was 5.5 per cent of global production. Its share in world citrus production would be around three per cent this year.
Would citrus exports are valued $2.122 billion in which Pakistan's share is around $30 million that is around 2.5 per cent. This is due to export of citrus to low priced countries.
Malik Imtiaz Ahmed and Haji Muhammad Azam, president of the Kinnow Processors and Exporters Association of Bhalwal, said rapid technological advances in processing, packaging, storage and transportation have enabled an enormous number of food products, fresh and processed alike to be traded among distant places.
One major challenge was proliferation and strengthen-ing of standard and technical regulations, especially in developed countries.
Due to the lack of administrative, institutional and technical capacity, developing countries are struggling to comply with the emerging requirement and losing their comparative advantage due to the high costs of compliance, they said.
- Courtesy HortiMag