Pakistani mango exporters are in confident mood after a successful May-August export season, which is encouraging some to push for higher export targets and new markets in future.
Ahmad Jawad, CEO of Pakistani mango grower-shipper Harvest Tradings, said Pakistani mango exporters can be proud of achieving the 150,000-tonne export target set for 2011, and predicts that 2012 will be an 'excellent' year for Pakistani mangoes.
In a statement, Mr Jawad said Pakistan's success in Japan with Vapour-Heat-Treated mangoes this year had been a great boost for shippers, who are anticipating 'massive' orders from Japan from next year onwards.
Pakistan's Vapour Heat Treatment facility in Lahore, established to facilitate mango exports to Japan, will also raise demand in new markets across the globe, he added.
According to Mr Jawad, large volumes of mangoes were dispatched to new markets for sampling this season, in a bid to seek new orders for next year.
'If we strive more, we will introduce Pakistani mango all over the world in the coming years with the help of our high commissions and embassies,' said Mr Jawad.
Pakistan produced a total of 1.6m-1.8m tonnes of mangoes this season, of which only 150,000 tonnes were earmarked for export between May and August.
Most exporters considered this target too low, according to Mr Jawad, and blamed lack of marketing and poor government support to help raise it to a substantially higher level.
Besides Japan, Pakistan exports mango to the Middle East, Europe and other Asian countries, including Singapore and Malaysia. 2011 also marked the first year of commercial irradiated Pakistani mango sales to the US.
