Revenue from Pakistani mango exports could climb to US$75m this season, as suppliers target new markets in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, according to media reports.
With the first shipments due to get underway this weekend, the Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) has forecast a significant improvement on the 72,000 tonnes of mangoes exported from the central Asian nation last year.
“This year the forecast and scenario looks better with 100,000 tonnes of mangoes to be exported as production is expected to be higher this season than the previous year and it may touch 1.6 million tonnes,” PFVA chairman Waheed Ahmed told Money Control. “We are expecting these shipments will fetch foreign exchange of around US$75m for the country's exchequer.”
Along with traditional markets in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, Ahmed expects exporters to target new opportunities in markets such as China, Russia, Iran and Belarus.
Pakistan also has approval to export more than 400 tonnes of mangoes to Japan under vapour heat treatment (VHT). However, the current lack of access to VHT facilities means fruit is unlikely to enter the north Asian nation this year.
Ahmed said vapour heat treatment was now a necessity for building tropical fruit export programmes, with Pakistan left languishing behind other mango-producing countries.
