Pakistan’s mango exports are forecast to be valued at US$65m by the end of the season, only slightly higher than last year’s US$60m, said the Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) in a statement released this week, according to the Express Tribune.
Despite the EU ban on Indian imports, the PFVA is not forecasted growth for its own mango exports, with the season due to begin 25 May. PFVA spokesman Waheed Ahmed told the Tribune that mango production would drop to 1.45m tonnes, from 1.85m tonnes in 2013, due to poor weather conditions hitting the country’s key mango producing regions.
Pakistan will now focus on quality not quantity of produce, said Ahmed, and would be looking to export to potential new markets of South Korea and Australia, and will continue trade with Europe, where it currently ships 24,000 mangoes annually.
Exports are still closed to Japan and the US, along with a severed trade agreement with Iran following US international sanctions, costing Pakistan US$10 in mango exports annually.
