Reports in Pakistan have suggested that the country has made a breakthrough by agreeing to send the first shipment of its mangoes to the US in May or June this year.
Following a test shipment sent to the country last year, which found demand in the US for the fruit, exporter Harvest Tradings will now airfreight a batch of mangoes to the country later this year, The Express Tribune reported.
The shipment will first head to an irradiation treatment centre in Iowa before being distributed across cities boasting a large Pakistani-American population, the publication revealed.
The shipment has been made possible by the involvement of development consulting company Chemonics, with a US$90m allocation made to the project, while USAID is also involved, supporting a mango processing facility that helps increase produce shelf-life.
Ahmed Jawad, CEO of Harvest Tradings, told The Express Tribune that the US is also keen to coordinate seafreight shipments of Pakistani mangoes in the future, to ensure larger volumes and cut costs.
