The lucrative trade of Pakistan in the form of its yearly mango exports to Iran has been seriously jeopardised this year mainly due to negligence and inefficiency on the part of the relevant officials of Federal Ministry of Commerce and Customs, exporters said.

It is feared that this year only around 800 tonnes mango will be exported to Iran against the estimate of 15,000 tonnes export under normal circumstances.

It is learnt that mango consignments are being withheld at the Pakistan-Iran border for up to four days owing to sheer negligence and ill-planning on the part of the relevant authorities. Such a situation if persisted will not allow Pakistan to meet 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 during the last month as part of the lockdown measures against the spread of coronavirus.

He said that now the border crossing was open but the exports were allowed on three days only i.e. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays that too for a limited time period from 10 am to 3 pm.

The time duration for mango export is too less to the extent that empty trucks could not reach from the Iranian side to carry the mangoes owing to the traffic related to the trade of LGP and that of other commodities. The mangoes stuck at the Pakistan-Iran border could become rotten as such a situation could cause irreparable damage to the mango exporters and economy of the country.

According to Babar Durrani, each year around 15,000 tonnes mangoes is exported to Iran, which accounted for 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 less especially when it was a perishable farm product. Such a sorry state of affairs has been damaging the trade between the two countries especially causing harm to the exports of Pakistani products.

He appealed to the Prime Minister, officials of Ministry of Commerce, Federal Board of Revenue, and Customs to immediately look into the issue and do the needful to get this export issue resolved at the earliest.

Mr. Durrani said that mango consignments having total value up to Rs 400 million were stuck at the Pak-Iran border as Pakistan would lose a massive opportunity to earn vital foreign exchange if this trade doesn’t take place.

He said that the stakeholders related to the entire supply chain of mango exports up to the level of growers would incur irreparable loss this year if the export of these consignments was not allowed smoothly.

This should not be the case as these people especially the growers have already been facing serious economic hardships this year due to persisting lockdown measures in the country, he said.